The Bumps Along the Way
by shana852963
Summary: Sequel to 'I Missed You'. With Freddie and Sam happily married, it seems things are falling into place perfectly for the family. But of course, nothing in life ever works out perfectly, and there are always bumps in the road that must be overcome. Some bumps, however, are bigger than others, and can change everything in the blink of an eye.
1. Chapter 1

"Lauren!" Freddie called up the stairs for the third time that morning. "Lauren, let's go! School starts in thirty minutes and you need to get out of bed or you'll be late!"

"Okay already!" his fifteen-year old daughter yelled back done. "I'm up! You can stop screaming up the stairs like a crazy person now!"  
Freddie shook his head as he headed back into the kitchen. "Guess everybody was right about teenagers being horrible," he sighed.

"Daddy!"

Freddie smiled as his other daughter, two-year old Heather, ran into the kitchen. Her blonde curls bounced around her shoulders and her brown eyes sparkled with pure delight just at the sight of her father.

"Hey there, Heather," Freddie said, scooping the toddler up in his arms and kissing the top of her head. "At least someone seems to like their daddy this morning."

Heather kissed the tip of his nose. "Love daddy!"

"Dude, how loud do you think you can be?" Freddie's wife of five years yawned as she came into the kitchen behind Heather.

As Sam walked into the kitchen, Freddie took in her presence as he did every morning. Even though she was wearing old sweatpants and a jacket, he didn't think it was possible for her to get any more beautiful.

Ten years ago, Freddie would've never believed that this would be his life. Back then, if he thought about how things would be at this moment, he would've figured he'd still be with his now ex-wife, Sarah. He wouldn't have even thought him and Sam would be acquaintances, much less husband and wife. He would've never imagined getting the chance to have a second child either; Sarah had been hesitant about even having one.

As different as everything was, however, Freddie couldn't be happier with the changes. Everyday in the five years him and Sam had been married, he woke up feeling like the luckiest man on Earth and wondered what he could've possibly done to wind up with such a great family.

"Sorry," Freddie said, giving his wife a kiss as she stepped over to him. "But trying to get Lauren out of bed in the mornings is so difficult lately. I need to leave to drop her off at school in ten minutes or I'm gonna miss my meeting."  
Freddie, after denying countless promotions and offers, still remained a stay-at-home father, choosing to work from home developing different types of software. He did, however, need to go into the office from time-to-time, and today happened to be one of those days."

"Well she's up, I saw her heading into the bathroom on my way down here," Sam told him, taking Heather from her husband. "Alright, Heather, what do you want for breakfast?"  
"Juice!" the two-year replied happily.

"Well we'll add some cereal on the side of that juice," Sam said, heading to the fridge. "Oh, Freddie? What time's your meeting done today?"

"It's a long one," Freddie said. "I think I'm gonna be stuck in there until five. Why?"

"I dunno, I was thinking it might be nice for us all to go out to dinner," Sam shrugged. "I have an easy day down at the theatre so I figured why not?"

Sam had officially left the dance school she had been working at when she first moved to Texas. She had landed a job as a head choreographer downtown at the performing arts theatre where she got the opportunity to work with professionals.

"Sounds good to me," Freddie agreed as Lauren walked into the kitchen.

Her long, red hair hung down almost to her waist and she was wearing a pair of tight jeans and a shirt that clearly showed her bellybutton.

"See, I'm ready," Lauren said. "With time to _spare_."

"Yeah, a whole four minutes," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "And you're gonna use some of that four minutes to go upstairs and find a different shirt."  
"What?" Lauren moaned. "But dad, what's wrong with this one?"

"I can see your entire stomach!"

"It's like two inches," Lauren pointed out. "Besides, everybody wears shirts like this, dad."

"I don't care what everybody else wears," Freddie said. "I care what-"

"Hey, it's pretty cold outside today," Sam said, cutting him. "Lauren was probably planning on wearing a jacket over the shirt all day anyway, right, Laure?"

"Um, yeah, I was," Lauren said quickly.

"See? So no one will even see the shirt," Sam said to Freddie.

"Well…okay," Freddie conceded. "I guess if you wear a jacket, Lauren, you don't have to change."  
"Thanks, daddy," Lauren said, her voice instantly going back to its sweet tone that made Freddie cave every time.

"We still need to get going," Freddie told her, handing her a banana. "I'm running late. Sam's gonna pick you up from school."  
"Sweet," Lauren grinned at Sam.

"You feeling up for some Mexican food tonight?" Sam asked the teen. "We're going out for dinner."

"Yeah, totally," Lauren nodded. "I could go for some tacos. Oh, dad? I sort of need ten bucks. My class is taking a field trip to the planetarium next week and the permission forms and money are due today."  
"Really? The planetarium?" Freddie smiled. "I love it there! I heard they have a new exhibit about Neptune."

"I know, I can't wait," Lauren said. She had certainly picked up her father's love of academics. All her life she had been the top of her class and she always genuinely seemed to enjoy learning.

"Well my wallet's in my car, I'll give you the money in there," Freddie said, shrugging into his jacket. "Alright, let's go."  
"Can I drive?" Lauren asked her father.

"What? No!" Freddie said.

"Daddy, I'm fifteen!" Lauren said, exasperated. "I'm supposed to be getting practice driving so next year when I'm sixteen I can drive myself!"

"I told you, I'll teach you to drive," Freddie said. "As soon as you can show me you know all the rules of the road, can recite the meanings of all the road signs and learn the basics of car maintenance."

"So basically in another ten years?" Lauren said, crossing her arms.

"Ha, ha," Freddie said.

He leaned down and gave Sam a kiss and then kissed Heather. "Bye, guys. I'm waiting in the car, Lauren," Freddie said firmly. "You have two minutes to get out there or you'll be walking to school."

Lauren waited until Freddie had headed out to his car before turning to her stepmother.

"Sam?" she said slowly. "Do you think you can _please _talk to my dad about this whole driving thing? I'm practically the only kid in my grade who has never driven a car!"  
"Come on," Sam said, grabbing a napkin and wiping food from the corner of Heather's mouth. "You can't be the _only _one."  
"I am!" Lauren insisted. "And if he has his way he's never gonna let me! You heard him!"

"Lauren," Sam sighed. "Your dad just wants to make sure you're absolutely ready to drive before you get behind the wheel. It's only because he cares about you and doesn't want you to get hurt out on the road."  
"I know," Lauren said. "But don't you think he's being just a _tad _bit unreasonable?"  
"Well…" Sam sighed. "I guess _maybe_…okay. I'll talk to your dad about this whole driving thing tonight."  
"Yes!" Lauren cheered, throwing her arms around Sam. "Thank you, Sam! You're the best!"

"Mommy best!" Heather smiled proudly.

"I'll see you after school today," Lauren said, quickly taking a last swig of orange juice. "Bye, Sam. Bye, Heather!"


	2. Chapter 2

"-And then my boss told me he loved my plans for a faster processing time for the security program we're designing," Freddie told the family later that evening as they sat in their favorite Mexican restaurant.

"Congrats, baby," Sam said, dipping chip in salsa and popping it in her mouth. "That's great! Not gonna lie, I don't know how you sat in a meeting about a _security program _for eight hours without passing out from boredom, but nice job."

"Yeah, for a guy who works in his pajamas, I guess you're still pretty important around there," Lauren grinned.

"I guess I can take those as compliments," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "What about you, Heather? Did daddy do good today?"

Sam looked down at their daughter, who was sitting in her lap, completely passed out.

"I think she's ready for bed," Sam chuckled, shifting Heather to a more comfortable position. "She tired herself out today at work with me dancing all around during the rehearsal I was running."  
"She had fun then?" Freddie asked.

"Yeah, she loved it there," Sam nodded. "Hey, I was thinking maybe we could put her in some dance classes like Lauren had when she was younger."

"Oh yeah, I used to love taking dance lessons," Lauren nodded.

"Well maybe you should take it up again," Freddie suggested. "I mean its only been three years since you quit. I'm sure you still know your stuff. And then that way you can quit _cheerleading_."

"But I like cheerleading," Lauren told her father.

"Yeah, there's no point in her doing dance again if she doesn't like it anymore," Sam nodded.

"I guess," Freddie said reluctantly. He took a bite of his quesadilla. "So how was school, Lauren?"

"Pretty good," Lauren replied. "I got an A on my trig exam and we started combustions in chemistry."

"Oh, remember when we learned about combustion in high school?" Freddie said to Sam.

Sam frowned. "I don't even remember taking a chemistry class."

"Sure you do," Freddie said. "Remember when you blew up a beaker full of chemicals by 'accident' just so we'd all have to evacuate the school and you'd miss your English test?"  
"Oh that was in chemistry class?" Sam said as Lauren laughed. "Thought it was in French."  
"Why would you have a beaker of chemicals in-never mind," Freddie said, shaking his head as Sam handed him Heather, who was still sleeping. "Hey, maybe we should box up the rest of our food and head home so we can get Heather to bed."

"Yeah, good idea," Sam agreed. "Let me see if we can get another order of these chips to take with us, though…"

….

Later that evening, while Sam was upstairs, Freddie sat on the couch with Lauren watching their favorite T.V. show. It was an old western program that they had found flipping through channels one day seven years ago, and ever since then, every Wednesday night the two would sit and watch it together.

"Wow, it looks like this horse chase is gonna be real intense," Freddie said, staring at the screen. "Huh, Lauren? Especially since-Lauren?"

Freddie looked over at his daughter who wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to the show. Instead she was staring down at her cellphone, grinning from ear-to-ear as she texted away.

"Hey, who you texting there?" Freddie asked, muting the television.

"Huh?" Lauren said, quickly looking up. "Oh, just my friend."

"Well which friend?"

"You don't know him," Lauren replied.

Freddie raised an eyebrow. "_Him_? 'Him' as in a boy him?"  
"I think that's the only kind of 'hims' out there," Lauren frowned.

"Oh," Freddie said slowly. "Well…what's this boy's name?"  
"Dad…" Lauren groaned. "Why does it _matter_?"  
"What? I can't take an interest in my daughter's friends?" Freddie defended. "Especially since you seem to be so eager to talk to them that you'll risk missing one of the best moments of _Tales of the Dude Ranch_? I mean we've been waiting for this episode for weeks."  
"It's a repeat, dad," Lauren pointed out.

"It-It is?" Freddie said, turning back to the screen. "Oh…it is."

"I think I'm gonna head up," Lauren said, getting to her feet.

"What? Come on," Freddie said. "Just because it's a repeat doesn't mean we can't watch it again."  
"I know, but I actually have a _ton _of homework," Lauren told him.

"You do?" Freddie said. "Um, well alright then. School comes first. But _next _week I'm sure there's a new episode."  
Lauren smiled and kissed his cheek. "Can't wait."

As Lauren went upstairs, Freddie watched her disappear. Maybe he was just imagining things, but lately it seemed like him and Lauren were growing apart. There had been a time when all she wanted to do was spend every minute with him. Now it seemed like she couldn't wait to get away…

Freddie turned off the T.V. and went upstairs. He could hear Lauren's voice coming from behind her closed bedroom door.

"No way…he said that about me?" her voice carried. "That's so sweet! What do you think that means? Oh my God…this is _huge_!"

Freddie let out a sad sigh. He then walked over to the room next to Lauren's. He stepped inside and saw Heather laying in her small princess bed, fast asleep, clutching her favorite stuffed bear. Freddie tiptoed over and gently kissed the top of her head.

"Do me a favor, Heather," Freddie whispered, pulling the covers that she had kicked off of herself back over her body. "Don't ever grow up."

After he left the toddler's room, Freddie retreated into his own bedroom. Sam way lying on their bed, already in her pajamas, playing around on her computer.

"You going to sleep already?" Freddie asked, looking at the clock on his bedside table. "It's not even ten yet."

"I know, but I don't feel that great," Sam replied. "Was it just me or was that food at the restaurant tonight spicier than usual?"  
"I think it was just you, baby," Freddie replied, sitting down next to her.

"Dang," Sam mumbled. "Guess I'm reaching that age where I can't eat six enchiladas and feel fine. I feel like my stomach's gonna explode."

"Want me to go grab you an antacid or something?"  
"Nah, I'll be fine," Sam said. "Hopefully…Anyway, what are you doing up here? Isn't yours and Lauren's show still on?"  
"It was a repeat," Freddie said heavily. "So Lauren went up to do some 'homework'."

"Ah," Sam nodded.

"Can you believe it?" Freddie said, shaking his head.

"That she had to do homework?" Sam frowned. "Um, yeah. They give you a lot of the stuff in high school."  
"Oh she's not doing homework," Freddie snapped. "She's up there on her phone talking about some _boy_!"

"Oh, you mean Scott?"

"Scott?" Freddie repeated, jumping to his feet. "Who's Scott?"

"The guy she's liked for the past three months," Sam replied.

"You mean she tells you about boys?"

"Sure," Sam nodded. "Apparently he's on the football team. He seems like a decent kid. He's in a lot of her classes and he volunteers at an animal shelter."  
"Well how come she's never mentioned him to me before?" Freddie asked.

"Aw, it's nothing personal," Sam told him, closing her laptop. "You're her dad; no girl wants to gossip about boys with her dad. It'd be weird."

"Yeah, but…I dunno," Freddie sighed.

"Come on," Sam said, putting a comforting arm around him. "Don't get upset over this."

"How can I not get upset, Sam?" Freddie mumbled. "It's like I'm being shunted aside for boys and texting and all this other _teenage _junk."

"You're being crazy," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Lauren's still a daddy's girl. You two have one of the best relationships I've every seen."

"It just seems like lately she's been growing apart from me," Freddie said.

"I'm sure all parents feel like that with their kids when they become teenagers," Sam pointed out.

"No, I think it has to be me or something," Freddie said. He looked down at his lap. "Do you think maybe I'm losing my bond with Lauren because-because I'm not her biological father?"

Freddie rarely brought up the fact that genetically, him and Lauren had no relationship. He hated thinking about it, and had made a vow back when he had discovered the news that he would never let that get in the way of loving Lauren as though she shared fifty percent of his genes.

He had never told Lauren about this; some nights he would stay up late with Sam, discussing when the right time would be to tell her this, or if she ever _did _need to find out.

"Hey," Sam said firmly. "You know that has nothing to do with anything. You may not be her father by blood, but you've been the best father Lauren could've ever hoped for. You've been there for her through her whole life and you love her so much. And she loves you just as much. You're not losing any bond between you guys."

"But it seems like just yesterday she was coming in here asking me to tuck her in," Freddie said softly.  
"Well Freddie, she's not a little girl anymore," Sam reasoned.

"Yes she is," Freddie muttered.

Sam gave him a small smile. "Look, I know you're trying to ignore the fact that Lauren's growing up-"

"I'm not trying to ignore the fact-"

"Yes you are," Sam told him. "That's why you're so upset that she gave up ballet, where she danced around in a nice tutu, for cheerleading."

"Well I know how guys think about cheerleaders," Freddie said. "And have you _seen _those uniforms? There's barely any material on that skirt! What guy would rather have his daughter wearing that instead of a _proper _tutu?"

"And it's why you're so freaked out about her talking to boys," Sam continued. "And God forbid she even bring up dating to you-"

"When did anybody say anything about dating?" Freddie exclaimed, his eyes bugging out of his eyes now.

"Look," Sam said. "Trying to keep Lauren from growing up isn't going to keep it from happening. It's just gonna _really _start to ruin your relationship with her; she'll start fighting with you and you'll wind up feeling about ten times worse than you do now."  
Freddie leaned back against the pillows on the bed.

"I-I don't want to stop her from growing up," Freddie said slowly. "I know she _has _to. I just really don't know what to do. It's like you said; she's _not _a little girl anymore. How am I supposed to keep up with her anymore? I don't want to lose her."  
"You're not gonna lose her," Sam assured him. "I told you; she loves you. And even though she's not six and wants to play dolls all day anymore, there are still ways you can spend time with her. Maybe one way is, you know, easing up on this whole driving thing."  
"What do you mean easing up?" Freddie frowned.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Dude. You expect her to know more than the people who test you for your license. It's a _little _much. She knows the basics from driver's Ed! You know how much she would love it if you just took her out one day and let her drive around? Even it was just for a few blocks."

"Well…" Freddie said thoughtfully.

"Freddie," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "I know your mom was the poster parent for being overprotective, but don't you go down the same route."

"Fine," Freddie conceded. "Tomorrow when you get back from work I'll take Lauren out driving."


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning Freddie put the dirty dishes from breakfast into the dishwasher. Since he was back to staying at home today, Sam had driven Lauren to school leaving him to watch Heather. Sam and Lauren had left about twenty minutes ago, and the house was completely silent, a complete contrast to how it had been earlier as he had once again had to call five times up the stairs for Lauren to wake up.

"Alright, dishes are done," Freddie said, satisfied. He looked at the clock on the wall in the kitchen and saw it was already half past eight.

_That's weird_, Freddie thought to himself. _Usually Heather's up way before this_.

He headed up to the two-year olds bedroom room.

"Heather?" he said, turning on her light. "Heather? It's time to wake up. Come on, sweetie, it's time for breakfast."

Heather, who had been curled up in her bed, stirred slightly.

"Heather?" Freddie frowned, stepping over to her bed. "Heather, honey what's wrong?"  
"Feel yucky," Heather mumbled.

"You feel yucky?" Freddie repeated. He sat down on the bed, and he could tell right away that Heather was sick. Her skin was pale and she was breathing heavily. He felt her forehead and confirmed that she had a slight fever.

"Oh, sweetheart," Freddie sighed. "You're sick. Poor thing…"  
"I sleepy," Heather yawned.

"I bet," Freddie said, gently scooping her up into his arms. "But before you go back to sleep, we need to get some medicine in you."

He carried her down to the kitchen and retrieved a bottle of children's flu medicine from the medicine cabinet.

"Taste bad," Heather fussed.

"But it will help you feel better," Freddie told her. "Come on, it's cherry flavored. You love cherries."

When he finally managed to get the medicine down Heather, Freddie put her back to bed.

"Hopefully you'll feel better soon, honey," Freddie said, kissing the top of his head. He hated seeing his little girl sick like this. "I'll check on you in a little bit. You just yell if you need anything, okay?"  
"Night, daddy," Heather mumbled as she closed her eyes.

…

"I swear, my History teacher is trying to drive me insane," Lauren said later that afternoon as she let herself into the house.

"Shhh," Freddie said quickly. "Heather's asleep. She has the flu."

"She's sick?" Lauren frowned. "Is she okay?"

"Yes, she'll be fine," Freddie said. "She'll hopefully sleep this off and feel better in the morning. Anyway, what were you saying about history?"

"My teacher gave me this project," Lauren replied. "I have to make a family tree that goes back at least three generations."

"Well what's so bad about that?" Freddie asked. "I made a family tree in high school. They're not too hard."

"I know, but she wants us to write a mini biography for each member of the family," Lauren moaned.

"Really? Well I guess that _does _seem a little extensive," Freddie said. "But I'm sure you'll do fine."

"Yeah, but if I'm gonna have to write a biography for each of my family members, that means I'm gonna have to call _her _and ask her a bunch of questions," Lauren said darkly.

Freddie knew perfectly well who the 'her' was that Lauren was referring to.

Ever since Sarah had given up custody of Lauren, Lauren had had a very rocky relationship with her mother. When Lauren was young, Sarah would come and visit Lauren two or three times a year and would call her at least once a month. And at first, Lauren did seem to enjoy that little bit of time with her mother. But then as Lauren grew older, suddenly her mother's departure seemed to hit her more personally.

She now saw it as abandonment.

Lauren hadn't seen her mother in person in almost three years now. The last time she had talked to her on the phone had been over a year ago.

Freddie always tried to refrain from speaking ill of his ex-wife in front of Lauren, but Lauren wasn't stupid. She picked up on things.

"Of course that would require her talking to me at all," Lauren mumbled, tossing her backpack carelessly onto the couch. "She's too busy in living in Beverly Hills selling fancy little houses to all those rich celebrities that she'd probably ignore any call from me."  
"Lauren…" Freddie said. He wished he could tell her that wasn't true, but he didn't think he could make it come off convincingly. So instead he just sat down next to her and put an arm around her. To his surprise, she didn't shrug it off like she usually did lately.

"Don't let some school assignment get you down," Freddie told her soothingly. "I know your mom hasn't-hasn't really been around lately. But that's her loss. Because while she's been away, _I've _gotten to watch my beautiful daughter grow up into a beautiful young lady."

Lauren laughed and pulled out of her father's embrace. "God, you're so lame, daddy."

"I was being sentimental!"

"If that's what you want to call it," Lauren said, getting to her feet and heading into the kitchen.

"Hey, Lauren?" Freddie said.

She turned around.

"I was thinking," Freddie said. "When Sam gets home and can watch your sister, maybe you and I could go out for a little bit. You know, in the car. With-With you in the driver's seat."  
"Really?" Lauren gasped. "You're gonna take me driving tonight?"

"We're not going on any main roads," Freddie said firmly. "And you'll stay under twenty-five miles per hour."  
"Oh my God, thank you, daddy, you're the best!" Lauren exclaimed, throwing her arms around Freddie and hugging him tightly. "This is so exciting! I can't believe I'm finally gonna get to drive! I've got to call Scott and tell him all about it!"

She released her father and hurried upstairs, already pulling out her phone.

"Huh…I'm the best," Freddie said slowly. "I'll take that."

….

"God, today just seemed to drag on," Sam said a few hours later as she stepped into the home.

"Rough day?" Freddie asked his wife sympathetically as he gave her a quick kiss.

"No, I still fill sick from that restaurant last night," Sam said.

"You think maybe it's food poisoning?"

"Nah, I've _had _that before," Sam replied. "I don't feel that bad. Hopefully if I get some sleep tonight I'll feel better in the morning."

"Oh, well then why don't you go upstairs and lie down?" Freddie said. "I-I was _supposed _to take Lauren out driving, but if you're not feeling well-"

"What? No dude, I'm okay," Sam said. "I'm just a little queasy. I'll drink some club soda and I'll be fine. Don't take this away from Lauren. She already texted me about it at work; she's so excited."

"You sure you're okay?" Freddie asked.

"Yeah, of course," Sam nodded. "Hey, where's Heather?"

"Upstairs. Sleeping," Freddie sighed.

"Sleeping?" Sam frowned. "It's only five thirty!"

"I know, but I think she came down with the flu," Freddie replied.

"The flu?" Sam exclaimed. "What? She's _sick_?"

"Yeah, she has a fever," Freddie said. "She's been asleep all day."

"Well why didn't you call me? I'd have come home early!"

"It's okay, Sam, I handled it," Freddie told her. "I've been giving her medicine and a couple hours ago I gave her a cold bath and that helped bring her fever down a little."

"Yeah, but…you still should've called," Sam said.

Just as Freddie was about to reply, Lauren hurried downstairs.

"Hi, Sam!" she said, grinning. "Can you believe it? I'm finally gonna get to drive!"

Sam quickly pulled on a smile over her previously worried expression. "Have fun out there. Don't drive your dad crazy, though."

"Come on, dad," Lauren said, tugging on her father's arm. "Let's go! You said we could go when Sam got home."

"Er, I'll be out there in a sec," Freddie said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his car keys. "Go ahead and check the tires and the mirrors in the meantime."

Once Lauren had left the house, Freddie turned back to Sam. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you she was sick, Sam, but I just didn't want to stress you out at work. I promise you, though, I took care of everything."

Sam sighed. "Okay. I-I guess you _do _know what to do. Sorry I freaked out on you."  
Freddie kissed her again. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, I guess I should go now so I can learn what it _really _means to be freaked out. Maybe I should invest into getting one of those cars they have at driving schools. You know, the ones with an extra pair of brakes on the passenger's side."

"You'll be fine," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Just don't be a nub out there with her."  
"I'll try," Freddie said heavily. "I'll see you in a little bit."

Once Freddie left, Sam went upstairs to Heather's room.

When she stepped into the room, the toddler slowly sat up in her bed.

"Mommy, I sick," she announced groggily.

"I know, honey," Sam said, carefully sitting down on the bed next to her. "Daddy told me. Are you feeling any better?"

She placed a hand on her forehead. She didn't feel _too _warm; it looked like Freddie had gotten her fever under control like he said.

"Sleepy," Heather yawned as Sam gently rubbed her back.

"Well how about I read you a story, Heather?" Sam suggested.

Heather nodded. "Piggy story.  
Sam smiled as she reached for the worn book sitting on the nearby dresser. It was Heather's favorite story, and she and Freddie read it to her at least three times a day.

"Alright, _Piggy Goes to School _it is."

Before she began reading, Sam tucked Heather into bed, making sure she was comfortable. As she fluffed her pillows, Sam couldn't help but feel a bit reminiscent. She used to go through this same process with Conner each time he got moved to a new hospital room; trying to make the hospital beds a little more bearable for him since he would most likely be there for quite some time.

It had been ten years since the last time she had done that for him…

"Okay, mommy?" Heather asked, shaking Sam from her thoughts. She was looking up with Sam with the same small smile that Conner used to greet her with every day.

"Yeah," Sam said quickly smiling back at her. She opened up the book and cleared her throat, hoping more than anything that the flu would be the only sickness she would ever have to see her child go through.


	4. Chapter 4

"Turn signal! _Turn signal_!" Freddie said, beads of sweat dripping down his face as Lauren drove around the neighborhood.

"Dad, the turn's like, two hundred feet ahead," Lauren pointed out.

"Well just get ready!" Freddie said. "Okay, now when you get to this stop sign-"

"Dad, we're only three blocks from the house," Lauren told him. "I know where to go."

"Sorry," Freddie sighed. "You're doing great, Lauren. It's just kind of weird suddenly being in the passenger seat."

Lauren gave him a small smile. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it."

Freddie couldn't help but laugh.

Half-an-hour later, after three circles around the neighborhood, Lauren pulled back into the driveway of their home.

"Well," Freddie said as Lauren turned off the engine. "I think I've aged ten years…But I have to say, you did better than I expected."

"So can we drive again tomorrow?" Lauren asked eagerly.

"I don't know about tomorrow," Freddie said. "But definitely soon."

"Okay," Lauren agreed.

The two sat in the car for a moment, both silent.

"Listen, sweetie," Freddie said, knowing exactly what was on his daughter's mind. "Don't let this family tree project get you down. I-I think I know a good chunk of your mom's family background. Let's see…she doesn't have any brothers or sisters…she has two aunts, a few cousins-"

"But I still need pictures," Lauren said softly. "And then I need to actually know about them for those little biographies I have to write about each person."  
"Well…your teacher doesn't know what these people look like," Freddie pointed out. "You can just find random pictures off the Internet. And as for the biographies, well, it wouldn't be too hard to fake those."

Lauren grinned. "You want me to fake my homework?"

"Er…I wouldn't say that exactly," Freddie frowned.

"I don't know why I have to include her on my family tree at all," Lauren mumbled. "She's barely my mother. She doesn't care about me."

"Your mom cares about you," Freddie said. "She-She just never knew how to show it."

"Yeah, well, if you care about someone you could at least pick up the phone every once in awhile," Lauren said darkly.

Freddie didn't reply. He hadn't spoken to Sarah in years, but sometimes he wanted to call her just to let her know how much her absence had really hurt Lauren.

"Do I even have to put her on the project?" Lauren asked, staring down at the steering wheel.

Freddie contemplated this. "Well Lauren, you _need _to do this project for school."  
"I know," Lauren said. "But what if…what if I use Sam as my mom?"

Freddie stared at her, speechless.

"Sam's more of a mom to me anyway," Lauren said. "I know she's just my step-mom and isn't related to me or anything-"

Freddie shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"-But I still think of her like a parent," Lauren finished. "I-I don't think my teacher would mind. Do you think Sam would be okay with that?"

Freddie smiled. "I think she would love that."

"Good," Lauren said, looking relieved. She looked at the clock car. "Whoa, it's late. I was supposed to call Danielle to work on trig. Thanks for the driving lesson, daddy!"  
"Any time, Laure," Freddie replied.

"You coming inside?" Lauren asked, opening the car door.

"I'll be in in a second," Freddie told her.

Lauren shrugged and closed the car door and headed back into the house.

_Maybe she's finally old enough to understand, _Freddie thought to himself, looking at the picture of him and a five-year old Lauren he had taped to his dashboard. _That blood doesn't mean everything._

…

When Freddie returned to the house, he went up to his and Sam's bedroom, expecting to find Sam there. The bedroom was empty, however. Just as Freddie was about to go back downstairs and look for his wife, the door to Heather's room opened and Sam came out.

"Hey," he said as she gently shut the door behind her. "Is Heather okay?"

"She's sleeping," Sam replied.

Freddie chuckled. "Boy, she really got your sleeping habits. I think she's only been awake for about two hours today."  
"She slept all day?" Sam asked softly.

"Yeah, she said she's really sleepy," Freddie said. "Must be the medicine."  
Sam didn't reply.

"Anyway," Freddie said. "I'll have you know I successfully took Lauren out driving and only slammed on the imaginary brakes three times."

"Must've been hard for you," Sam said, giving him a small smile as she went into their bedroom, kicking off her shoes and crawling into the bed. "But I'm sue Lauren enjoyed it."

"Yeah, she did," Freddie grinned. "I'm glad you convinced me to take her out, Sam. I guess I was being a _bit _ridiculous about the whole thing."

"A bit?" Sam scoffed.

"And I think Lauren really needed it today," Freddie said, sitting down next to her. "You know she got assigned a family tree in school today."

"Really?" Sam frowned. "They still make kids do those things?"  
"Apparently," Freddie said. "We did one in high school. Or, _I _did at least. You told the teacher your pet chinchilla ate yours."  
"That wasn't a total lie," Sam said. "My mom had been dating a guy who always carried a gerbil around and that thing nibbled the corner of the poster board I was _gonna _use for the project."

"He carried a gerbil around?" Freddie frowned.

"You know my mom didn't date sane guys."  
"Right," Freddie chuckled. "Well, anyway, Lauren was kind of upset because she realized doing a family tree would require her to get a whole bunch of information from Sarah about her side of her family."  
"Oh," Sam said understandingly. "Yeah, that sucks. I remember the _real _reason I didn't bother doing that family tree project in high school; I had no idea who my dad even was. How was I supposed to put him in my family tree? Those projects are so stupid; they assume everybody has a 'normal' family and the kids who don't wind up feeling all sucky during the whole thing. See, _this _is why homework causes problems in schools."

"You had a real good case up until that last part," Freddie said, rolling his eyes.

"So Lauren's all bummed now?" Sam asked. "Poor kid."  
"Well she was," Freddie said. "Until she sort of came up with a solution…she wants to use you as her mom on her family tree."  
Sam blinked. "Me?"

"I mean it makes sense," Freddie said. "You _are _her step-mom. You've been there for her almost her whole life. She's seen you as a parent for so long now, Sam."  
"That's-That's so sweet of her," Sam whispered.

Freddie didn't say anything, but he could've sworn he saw a tear in Sam's eye.

…..


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning when Freddie awoke, he was surprised to find the bed empty. He normally got up before Sam, but this morning her side of the bed was already neatly made (or neatly made for Sam, that was, for it still looked as if it was made by a child).

Freddie slowly got out of bed and headed down the hall to Lauren's room to make his first attempt of many to get the teen out of bed.

"Lauren," Freddie yawned, knocking on the door before opening it to find his daughter fast asleep in her bed. "Let's go. Wake up."

"I'm up, I'm up," Lauren mumbled sleepily, not bothering to open her eyes.

Freddie shook his head as he turned and went downstairs, knowing he would be back up to repeat the same order in ten minutes.

Sam, already fully dressed, was trying to coax a very fussy Heather to eat some breakfast.

"Heather, please eat some cereal," Sam pleaded, trying to spoon some Oat Rings into the toddler's mouth. "You barely at anything yesterday."

"No!" Heather wailed. "No food!"

"She won't eat?" Freddie frowned.

"No," Sam sighed. "I've tried toast, oatmeal, waffles and now cereal."  
"Not hungry!" Heather pouted.

"Sweetie, you _have _to eat or you're not going to get better," Freddie said, sitting down next to his wife.

"She still has a fever," Sam said, running a hand through her hair anxiously.

"Well the flu usually lasts three or four days," Freddie reasoned. "I remember when Lauren was her age and she was sick like this, here fever would normally break on the third day."

"Well she still needs to eat," Sam mumbled, picking up Heather from her high chair, rubbing her back gently to calm her down. "Heather? I know you're not hungry, but your making mommy really sad by not eating."  
Heather's crying began to slow a bit.

"Can you be a big girl for mommy and just eat five bites of this toast?" Sam said, taking a small piece of toast from the plate on the table. "Just five. That's all."  
"Five?" Heather sniffed, holding up her hand to show five fingers.

"Very good," Sam smiled. "So are you going to eat for mommy?"  
Heather nodded.

"Thank you," Sam said, sounding absolutely relieved as she handed Heather the toast.

"Nice," Freddie said to Sam as Heather nibbled on the toast. "Hopefully she'll eat later on when I try, or I might be calling you at work for help."  
"I'm not going into work," Sam said simply.

"What? Sam, I was kidding," Freddie said. "You don't need to skip work. Heather will be fine with-"

"I'm off today," Sam told him. "I'm not skipping. They're fixing the vents in the theatre so rehearsal is canceled today."

"Oh," Freddie said. "Well great then. It will be nice having you around. Hey, you feeling better yourself?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess," Sam said, though she had put any feelings of her own discomfort aside the moment she found out Heather was sick. "It must've just been something I ate."

"Done," Heather said, handing the half-eaten toast back to Sam.

"Well, it's better than nothing," Sam said heavily.

"Sleepy," Heather muttered, resting her head on Sam's shoulder.

"Want to go back to bed, honey?" Freddie asked knowingly as Sam handed Heather over to him.

Heather nodded.

"I'll go take my second attempt at getting her sister our of bed while I'm up there," Freddie told Sam. "I'm telling you, one of these days I'm gonna make her go to school in her pajamas if she doesn't get up in time."

"Okay," Sam nodded. "Tell her breakfast is waiting for her down here."

As Freddie went back upstairs with Lauren, Sam sat back down at the table, resting her head in her hands.

_You're being paranoid_, Sam told herself firmly. _She has the flu. She'll be over it by the end of the week and then she'll be back to her normal, healthy self…It's just the flu._

….

"So _how_ big is your family?" Lauren asked after school that day, as her and Sam sat around the large piece of poster board.

"Pretty huge," Sam chucked. "We're Italian."

"I know you have a twin sister," Lauren said. "And you've told me all about your Uncle Carmine…"

"Let's see...there's my Aunt Maggie, my Aunt Gladys, my Aunt Tara," Sam said. "And then my Uncle Bruiser. I don't think that's his real name, but everyone always called him that so I just sort of went with it."

She looked through the old shoebox of photographs she had brought down for Lauren to use. "And then you have my cousins Vinnie, Mario, Lorenzo, Jack, Angela, Kate, Stella and Gary. There's more, but I don't have pictures of them so you don't have to put them on."

"Well at least your huge family makes up for my dad's boring one," Lauren said.

"Trust me, your dad's family is filled with just as many freaks and weirdos as mine," Sam grinned. "I mean you've met your grandmother."

"I guess," Lauren agreed.

"Here are the pictures I could find," Sam said, handing Lauren the small stack of photographs. "Don't worry about giving them back; your dad backed all our photos up on the computer ages ago."

"Thanks," Lauren said, looking through the photos. "Oh, um…Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Do-Do you have a picture of Conner I could use?" Lauren asked hesitantly. "I-I mean he-he would've been my step-brother; I kind of want to have him on the tree."  
"Oh," Sam said. She hadn't been expecting that.

"If you don't want me to, then-"

"What? No, of course I want you to," Sam smiled, going back into the photograph box. She found her favorite photograph of Conner. He was two years old; right before he had been diagnosed with the leukemia that had killed him. Sam had taken him to her favorite pie shop to let him try some for the first time. He had instantly fallen in love with the coconut cream pie, and wasted no time showing it by smearing the entire piece all over his face. In the picture he was laughing, absolutely delighted with himself as his face was covered with whipped cream.

"Here you go," Sam said, handing the picture to Lauren.

Lauren smiled as she looked at the picture. "Heather looks like him a little…they have the same smile."  
"I know," Sam nodded, getting to her feet. "Anyway, when you're done gluing on the pictures we can start doing the biographies."

"Okay," Lauren agreed. "Sounds like a-" Just then her phone buzzed, and she looked down at the screen.

"Oh my God!" she gasped. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"Scott wants to know if I want to go to the mall tomorrow night!" Lauren grinned.

"Whoa, really?" Sam said. "Nice! Just the two of you?"  
"Well, me, him, Danielle and Mike," Lauren explained. "But Danielle and Mike are a couple so they'll be busy with each other and that will leave me and Scott basically on our own!"

"Ah."

"This is perfect!" Lauren said excitedly. "This is-Aw man."  
"What's wrong?" Sam frowned.

"There's no way dad's gonna let me go," Lauren sighed. "If I tell him I'm going to the mall, he'll want to know who with and if I tell him there's gonna be boys there he'll totally flip out."

"Aw, give him some credit," Sam said.

"You don't think he'll flip out?"

"Um…well, maybe," Sam admitted.

"Great," Lauren moaned. "I practically get asked out by Scott and I can't even go because my dad would have a heart attack."  
"Well maybe you can talk to him," Sam suggested. "I mean it's just the mall; he might be okay with that."  
"Yeah…any maybe tomorrow leprechauns will do a little tap dance on the roof," Lauren said, rolling her eyes.

"Huh…my sarcasm's really starting to rub off on you, huh?" Sam smirked. "Listen, just talk to your dad. He might surprise you."

….

"I think she's starting to get a little bit of color back in her face," Freddie said as he got Heather into a new pair of pajamas that night. "She doesn't seem so pale anymore."

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "Hopefully that means she'll be better soon."

"I don't like sick," Heather mumbled sleepily.

"We don't like when you're sick either, sweetie," Freddie told her, kissing the top of her head. "Get some rest. Love you, Heather."  
"Night daddy," Heather yawned.

"She needs her last dose of medicine for the night," Sam told her husband. "Can you go downstairs and get it?"

"Sure," Freddie nodded.

"Medicine bad," Heather said as Freddie left the room.  
"It's not _that _bad," Sam told her, rustling her blonde curls. She made to life Heather onto her lap. "When daddy comes back with your medicine, we'll read you your bedtime story before you-"

"Ow!" Heather suddenly cried.

"What's wrong?" Sam frowned.

"I hurt," Heather sniffed, pointing to the joint of her elbow that Sam had briefly brushed against.

"Let me see," Sam said, gently rolling up the sleeve of Heather's pajamas. When she saw her daughter's elbow, Sam let out a small gasp. All around the joint it appeared to be swollen.

_No_…Sam thought, feeling as if her world had stopped. For the mark on Heather's arm looked just like the ones that used to cover Conner's body.


	6. Chapter 6

"Freddie!"

Sam nearly collided with her husband as he reached the top of the stairs with Heather's medicine.

"Whoa, where are you running to in such a rush?" Freddie chuckled. "You order a pizza or something?"

"Did Heather hit her arm on anything yesterday?" Sam asked panicky. "Or do anything that might've left a bruise."

"Um, no," Freddie said, confused. "She slept almost all day. Why? Sam, are you okay? You look like you need to sit. Why don't you go lie down and I'll give Heather her medicine. You've been busy taking care of her all day and you deserve a break-"

"I want to take her to the hospital," Sam said, cutting him off.

"The hospital?" Freddie sputtered. "Sam, you don't take a kid to the hospital for the flu! She could wind up catching something worse in the waiting room!"

"I don't think she has the flu," Sam said.

"What do you mean?" Freddie frowned.

"I-Come here," Sam said, leading him back into Heather's room.

The two-year old was lying in bed, almost asleep.

"Heather?" Sam said as her and Freddie sat next to their daughter. "Daddy has your medicine."

"Yeah, here you go, sweetie," Freddie said, gently lifting Heather up into his lap and holding the small medicine cup up to her lips.

Heather slowly drank the contents of the cup, cringing as she finished.

"Taste bad," Heather commented.

"But you were such a big girl by drinking it all up," Sam said. "Now honey? Let's show daddy your arm so he can see your boo-boo, okay?"

She carefully pushed Heather's sleeve up again, revealing the awful looking mark on her joint.

"What is that?" Freddie asked, concerned. "Heather? Did you bump your arm?"

But Heather didn't answer. She had fallen fast asleep already in Freddie's arms.

"It looks swollen," Freddie commented. "What do you think it's from?"

"Not here," Sam whispered, not wanting to talk about this in front of Heather. She kissed her daughter's forehead, feeling the heat of the fever.

Once Freddie had tucked Heather in, he followed Sam into their bedroom.

"Okay," Freddie said, closing the door behind him. "What is it?"

Sam tried to steady her breathing, but she felt as if the walls were going to crash down on her at any minute now.

"Sam…" Freddie said, stepping towards his wife. "Are you okay? What's the matter?"

He helped her over to the bed and sat down with her.

"Sam?" Freddie said again, wrapping a warm, strong arm around her. "Baby…talk to me."

And with that the tears began pouring from Sam's eyes.

"It's not the flu," Sam cried, burying her head in the crook of Freddie's neck. "I-I thought I was being paranoid, but-but-"

"Sam, you-you're scaring me," Freddie said, trying to keep his voice calm. "If she doesn't have the flu, then what do you think-"

"Conner got those same marks all over his body," Sam said, her voice cracking. "He'd be feeling tired for entire days, he had fevers, he lost his appetite…"

"Sam, don't-"

"I know the signs of leukemia, Freddie!" Sam said, feeling sick from saying the words out loud. "Fatigue, fever, not eating, _bruising_ around the joints…those are all early symptoms!"

"Heather…she-she can't have leukemia," Freddie said, feeling completely stunned. "Sam, she-she's only two."

"So was Conner when he was diagnosed," Sam said. She looked over on the dresser, where a photograph of her son sat. "Cancer doesn't have an age minimum."  
Freddie felt like someone had punched him hard in the gut. His little girl couldn't have cancer, could she? His sweet, innocent child…

"It-It could be a coincidence," Freddie said weakly.

Sam glared at him. "So you think I'm just being paranoid then? You think I'm overreacting?"

"I didn't say-I just…_cancer_?" He couldn't even begin to grasp the idea. He loved Heather so much…to even think about her being that sick felt like it was tearing away at his heart.

He looked over at Sam, who was still crying. "I-Just don't know how to even…I don't even want to imagine…"

"Me neither," Sam said, knowing what he was trying to say. Freddie could feel her tears dropping onto his chest. She was shaking, and Freddie continued to hold her tight.

"I thought Conner just had the flu…" she said weakly. "So I just…dealt with it on my own. I gave him medicine, kept him in bed…It wasn't until almost two weeks later that I took him to the pediatrician…Those two weeks I waited…They could've saved his life."

Freddie didn't know what to say. One of his biggest regrets would always be that he hadn't been there for Sam during the hardest time of her life; when her son had been dying before her very eyes. Sam had come a long way in the ten years that had passed since Conner's death, but Freddie knew she'd never truly get over it.

And he knew that as much as it would destroy him if his baby girl was diagnosed with the sickness, as much as it would hurt and send his life crashing down in flames, it would be so much worse for Sam.

Sam had already lived this nightmare, and had it end it the worst way possible.

"If-If Heather _is _sick," Sam went on, her voice still so small. "And we catch it sooner…maybe-maybe things will be different-"

She broke down into tears again, and Freddie continued to hold her. He could feel his own eyes watering as well.

"We-We'll take her to the doctors tomorrow," he said softly. "We'll get her there first thing in the morning."

Sam nodded, not able to respond with words.

And so for the entire night, Sam lay in Freddie's arm.

Neither was able to get any sleep.

…..

When morning finally arrived, Sam and Freddie were both out of bed by six.

"I'm going to call and tell the doctors we're coming in," Sam mumbled, pulling her messy curls into a ponytail. "Can-Can you go and get Heather dressed? Oh, and-and get Lauren up too. We can drop her off at school before we take Heather in."

"Alright," Freddie nodded. He made for the bedroom door, but before he left, he turned and stepped back towards Sam, leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on her lips.

He could taste the saltiness from her tears.

"Sam," he said, trying to sound strong enough for the both of them, because for the first time in all their time together, Sam had almost no strength. "Just know…we're going to get through this. No matter what, we'll be here for each other and-and for Heather."

Sam reached for his hand, giving it a squeeze. "Thank you," she whispered.

Freddie went down the hall to Lauren's room and opened the door.

"Lauren," he said. "Lauren, let's go. Up."

"Alright, alright," Lauren mumbled as usual, turning over in her bed. "Ten more minutes…"  
"No, Lauren, now," Freddie said firmly, turning on the light, causing the teen to squint as she slowly sat up in bed.

"Dad, it's so early!" Lauren moaned, looking at her clock. "Chill out, I still have a good hour to sleep."  
"No, we need to take you to school early," Freddie said. "Sam and I have to take Heather to the doctors."

"This early?"

"It's…It's the only time we could get an appointment," Freddie lied, not wanting to worry his older daughter until they were absolutely certain about everything. "But I'm serious, Lauren, you need to be dressed and ready to go within the next thirty minutes."

Freddie waited until Lauren was physically out of bed before moving on to his next daughter's room.

Heather was fast asleep, and Freddie took a moment just to look at her.

She had seemed so healthy just a few days ago…was that all about to change.

"Heather?" Freddie said, gently shaking her small shoulder. "Heather, honey, wake up."

Heather stirred and slowly opened her brown eyes.

"I sleep," she fussed as Freddie turned on her lamp by her bed.

"Not right now," Freddie said, kissing the top of her head. "We need to get you dressed. You're going to go to the doctors."

He pulled out some clothes from her dresser, not even bothering to see if they matched, and an old training diaper.

Heather had been using the bathroom on her own for a few weeks now, and except for the occasional accident, she had been doing very well. Him and Sam still had her sleep in pull-ups, though, and Heather usually fought them on it, claiming she wasn't a baby anymore. Freddie suddenly realized that the past two days she hadn't said a word about them…maybe he should've picked up on that earlier and realized that something was wrong.

"We need to be there by seven-thirty," Sam said, joining Freddie in their daughter's room. "I had to fight for a spot so we can't be late. Lauren awake?"  
"Yeah, she's getting dressed," Freddie nodded, pulling Heather's shirt on, taking extra care not to hurt the marked elbow.

"Mommy, up," Heather said, holding her arms up for her mother to pick her up.

"You got it, kid," Sam said, pulling a strained smile onto her face as she lifted her.

"I'm gonna go get breakfast started," Freddie said. "You want anything in particular?"

"No, I'm not hungry," Sam mumbled.

"Sam…you have to eat."

"I'll eat when I don't feel like I'm about to puke from nerves," Sam hissed. "Alright, Heather, let's find some toys to keep you busy while we're at the doctors."

Freddie knew there was no point in trying to argue the point any further. Sam was too worried about Heather to even think about herself.

Freddie headed out of the room just as Lauren was coming out of her own room.

"It's still dark out," Lauren mumbled.

"I know," Freddie said. "But tomorrow's Saturday so you can sleep in."

"Is Heather even that sick?" Lauren yawned. "I thought she just had the flu."

"It-We just want to have the doctor check her out," Freddie said.

"Well tell the doctor he should try afternoon appointments once in awhile," Lauren said.

Freddie couldn't help but chuckle.

As Lauren turned to go downstairs, Freddie opened his mouth.

"Lauren, wait," he said.

"What?" Lauren asked.

Freddie put his arms around her, hugging her tightly.

"What was that for?" Lauren asked, raising an eyebrow when Freddie released her.

"Just…because," Freddie said. "Now go set the table for breakfast. We don't have time for anything big, but we have cereal and that will have to do."

"Okay," Lauren nodded.

Freddie watched as she headed downstairs. He had always known his family meant the world to him; that he'd do anything to protect his daughters and Sam.

But it seemed now, now that that was being threatened, he was realizing just how lost he'd be without any one of them. 


	7. Chapter 7

"So how does this work?" Freddie asked, anxiously squeezing his hands together as him and Sam sat in the waiting room of the doctor's office.

"They're gonna take a blood sample," Sam told him, gently stroking Heather's back as she slept on her lap. "Then they're going to do a complete blood count."  
"What's that?"

"It looks at the levels of red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets…" Sam explained. "If the counts are too low, then-then we have a problem."

Freddie nodded, now gripping his hands together so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

"God…" Sam sighed, looking around the waiting room. "I forgot how much I hate hospitals."  
Freddie unclasped his hands and reached over and took her hand in his.

"I'm here," Freddie told her. "Lean on me when you need to, okay?"

Sam nodded. "Okay."  
"Heather Benson?" a nurse called, stepping into the waiting room.

"Right here," Freddie said as him and Sam got to his feet.

"We have a room set up for her back here," the nurse said, leading Sam and Freddie down the hallway. It smelled overly sterile; Freddie wondered whether or not you got used to the scent if you stayed long enough.

"Please fill out these forms," the nurse said when they reached the small room at the end of the hall. She handed a clipboard to Sam. "I'll be back in in just a moment to take the sample."  
"Thank you," Freddie said as Sam began writing in Heather's information on the clipboard.

"Hopefully she stays asleep," Sam said softly as Freddie took the toddler into his arm so Sam could write easier. "She hates needles…"

And then, right on cue, Heather began to stir and her eyes slowly opened.

"And…look who's up," Freddie said, smiling down at his daughter. "Good morning, Heather."

Heather looked around the room curiously.

"We're at the doctors, sweetie," he explained.

"How come?"

"We're gonna see if we can figure out what's been making you feel so icky," Sam said.

"Alright, are we all ready in here?" the nurse asked, returning to the room and pushing a cart with her.

"Yes," Sam said as Freddie set Heather down on the examination table. "Yes, we're ready."  
The nurse picked up a long needle from the cart and began preparing it.

The second Heather caught sight of the needle, however, she began to cry.

"No shot!" she wailed. "I no want shot!"

"Heather, it's barely going to hurt," Sam said, trying to soothe her child. "It's just going to feel like a little pinch! It will be done with before you even realize."

"No shot!"

"Okay Heather, shhh," Freddie said, gently putting an arm around her. "It's going to be okay. Look at me. Look at daddy."

Heather stopped crying and turned to her father.  
Freddie reached into the bag of toys Sam had packed for Sam and pulled out her copy of _Piggie Goes to School. _

"Read, daddy?" Heather sniffed.

"Yeah, we're gonna read it," Freddie said, opening the book and clearing his throat. "Piggie is very excited to go to school. He can't wait to read and write and meet lots of new friends…"  
With Heather's attention now on the story, Sam looked over at the nurse and nodded.

"Piggie likes his new teacher," Freddie continued reading. "And his new classroom has lots of fun toys to play with."

The nurse carefully pierced Heather's skin with the needle, and the child let out a loud cry.

"Shhh, Heather? Let's keep reading," Freddie said holding up the book. "Your favorite part is coming up…Piggie's favorite part of school is lunch time, because he gets to talk with all of his friends. He shares his cookies with all of his friends because he knows that sharing is lots of fun."

"And we're all done," the nurse smiled, wiping Heather's arm and placing a Band-Aid on the small mark. "What a brave girl."

"How long is it going to take for you to get the results?" Sam asked.

"We'll have the sample looked at right here in this hospital, so it won't be as long as usual," the nurse explained. "We should be ready with the news in six hours."

Sam nodded. "Okay."  
"We have plenty of toys she's welcome to play with while you wait," the nurse said kindly. "And the cafeteria is up on the third floor if you get hungry. The doctor will be in as soon as the results come out."

"So now we just wait?" Freddie whispered to Sam as Heather flipped through her book, looking at the pictures.

"Now we wait," Sam sighed.

…..

It was the longest six hours of Sam and Freddie's lives. Heather busied herself playing with her toys, though she slept for the majority of the time.

"I wish they could go a little faster," Freddie said, checking his watch for the tenth time.

"I know," Sam whispered, watching Heather sleep peacefully in Freddie's arms.

Suddenly the door opened and the doctor walked in carrying a thin manila folder.

"Hello," he greeted the couple. "I'm Doctor Nichols."  
"Hi," Freddie replied as he shook the doctor's outstretched hand.

"So do you have the results?" Sam asked, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible.

"Yes, we finished going over Ms. Heather's blood test," the doctor nodded opening the folder. "And we found absolutely _nothing _out of the ordinary."  
Sam and Freddie looked at each other.

"W-What?" Sam said.

"Her blood test showed that she is perfectly fine," the doctor said, smiling. "She doesn't have leukemia."

"She-She doesn't?" Freddie said, not wanting to get his hopes up too soon.

The doctor shook his head. "No. She doesn't."  
"Oh my God…" Sam said as she hugged Freddie tightly. "She's okay…she's okay!"

Freddie smiled, hugging his wife back.

"So all she has is the flu then?" Sam asked the doctor.

"If I could just have a quick look at her I can tell you for sure," the doctor said.

"Heather? Come on sweetie, wake up," Freddie said, gently shaking Heather's shoulder.

"I up," Heather yawned as her eyes opened up.

"Yes," Sam beamed, picking up her daughter and kissing the top of her head. "You are."  
She set Heather down on the examination table and the doctor began to look her over.

"The flu has been especially prevalent this season," the doctor told Sam and Freddie as he looked inside Heather's ears. "We had an unusually cold winter, after all….Hmm, yes…yes, unfortunately Heather does have the flu. I'd say another week and she should be back on her feet. I can get her some antibiotics as well."

"Well what about this bruise on her arm," Sam asked, showing the mark that had caused her such panic to the doctor.

"Nothing to be concerned about," the doctor told her, pressing down on the bruise slightly. "She most likely bumped her arm a few days ago playing."  
"Heather?" Freddie asked. "Do you know how your arm got hurt?"

Heather nodded.

"Well how?" Sam asked, cursing herself for not thinking to simply ask the child this question before.

"Jump on bed!" Heather said happily.

"You were jumping on your bed?" Freddie said, trying to look too relieved. "Thank God…I mean, Heather, that-that's very wrong. We don't jump on beds."

"Sorry daddy," Heather said sweetly.

"Oh it's okay," Freddie said at once as he put his arms around his daughter, knowing perfectly well that there was nothing Heather could do at the moment that could make him mad.

"She's been sleeping _a lot_ lately," Sam said. "Is-Is that normal?"

"Some kids sleep more than others when they're sick," the doctor nodded. "Wait until she's over the flu, and then if she's still needing to sleep more than ten hours a day, you can give me a call. But I'd say you have nothing to worry about. Except for her flu right now, Heather is a very healthy child."  
"Thank you," Freddie said. "_Thank you_. I'm sorry we made you go to all the trouble of the blood test."  
The doctor smiled. "It's no trouble at all. You all take care now."

Once the doctor walked out of the room, Freddie stepped over to his wife and leaned down and kissed her.

"She's okay," Freddie whispered as he held Sam tight. "She's okay."

"I know," Sam said softly, feeling such an overwhelming sense of relief.

And for the first time ever, she smiled as she stood in a hospital room.


	8. Chapter 8

"I feel like we should celebrate," Freddie said, wearing the same enormous smile he had had on since him, Sam and Heather had returned home after the blood test. "Want to order pizza?"

Freddie felt as though nothing could bring down his mood right now. The relief that Heather's blood test had come back only to show that she was perfectly healthy had risen his spirits so high that he just wanted to shout for joy.

"Sure," Sam chuckled, amused at her husband's good mood, though grinning herself. "Lauren should be home any minute now from cheer practice. She changes her favorite pizza toppings every time so wait until she gets here to find out what she wants, though."  
Right on cue, the couple heard the front door open and a moment later Lauren walked into the kitchen wearing her cheerleading uniform that Freddie openly despised.

Normally he'd always have a comment about how her skirt was far too short or that her shirt looked like it could fit Heather, but today Freddie simply beamed at his daughter.

"Hey, honey," he said, giving her a quick kiss on top of her head. "How was practice?"

"Um, fine," Lauren replied, giving her father a strange look.

"We're ordering pizza for dinner," Sam told Lauren. "What kind do you want?"

"Pepperoni's fine," Lauren said.

"Classic, good choice," Freddie said.

"Er, you okay dad?" Lauren frowned. "You seem really…happy."  
"Well you know, I had a pretty good day today," Freddie said simply. "That's all. Hey, you know what we haven't done in awhile? Watched a movie together as a family!"

"Is this what you've been dealing with all day?" Lauren asked Sam as she sat down next to her stepmother at the table. "I'm so sorry."

"Eh, it hasn't been as annoying as you'd think," Sam told her. "Oh, Lauren…isn't there something that you've been wanting to talk to your dad about? I mean now might be a good time to bring it up since he _is _in such a good mood."

"Huh?" Lauren said, confused. "What are you-Oh…"

"What is it, Lauren?" Freddie asked.

"Um…daddy?" Lauren said sweetly, using the voice that had a history of getting her whatever she wanted from her father.

Freddie's smile instantly dropped. "Well…this can't be good. Okay, Lauren, what do you want? Money? More driving lessons? A later curfew?"

"I was just wondering if I could go to the mall tomorrow night," Lauren said.

"The mall?" Freddie repeated. "That's it?"  
Lauren nodded.

"Oh," Freddie said, his smile coming back. "Well sure, that's fine. I was thinking you were gonna ask for something ridiculous. You know you don't mind if you go to the mall, as long as you're home by eleven. So who are you going with? Just Danielle?"

"Well…Danielle and-and a couple other people," Lauren said slowly.

"Uh-huh, and have I met these other people?" Freddie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Er, not-not exactly."  
"Well what are their names?" Freddie asked.

"Um, well there's Mike, Danielle's boyfriend," Lauren said carefully. "And-And then there's Scott-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Freddie said, his eyes widening. "Boys? _Boys_? You want to go out with boys?"

"It's just the mall!" Lauren said quickly.

"Oh what? You think I was born yesterday?" Freddie asked, rolling her eyes. "If Danielle is going with her boyfriend and there's a second guy going, I know it's a double date!"

"But daddy, I'm fifteen!" Lauren pleaded. "Isn't that old enough for you to trust me to go to the mall with a guy?"  
"I-I-" Freddie stammered.

He very well wanted to tell Lauren no. He didn't want her dating! She was just a little girl, after all.

But in the past twenty-four hours Freddie had been awoken to the fact that there really worse things that could happen to his children other than them growing up. In fact, maybe he had never fully appreciated that his daughter _had _been fortunate enough to grow into the strong, independent young woman standing before him.

He glanced over at Sam.

After all, there should've been one more teenager in the house right now…

"Okay," Freddie said heavily. "Here's the deal Lauren. You can go on this _date-_"

"I can?" Laure gasped. "Thank you daddy! Thank-"

"But you are to stay only at the mall," Freddie said firmly. "And you're still to be home by eleven. I want you to have your cell phone on you at all times and if _anything _at all happens that makes you feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable, call me or Sam and we'll come pick you up, got it?"

"Okay!" Lauren nodded excitedly, throwing her arms around her father. "Thank you, daddy! I have to go call Danielle and tell her the news!"

"Wow," Sam said as Lauren ran out of the room. "I'm impressed. I didn't think you'd be _rational _about Lauren dating. Good for you, baby."

"The mall…" Freddie mumbled, sitting down at the table. "Why do kids hang around the mall these days? Back when _we_ were kids we hung around _nice _places like-"

"-the mall," Sam finished for him.

"I _hate_ that place," Freddie muttered darkly.

…

Later that evening Freddie sat on his and Sam's bed with his laptop resting on his lap.

"Hey, did Lauren ever mention this _Scott's _last name to you?" Freddie asked as Sam pulled on her pajamas.

"No," Sam replied. "Why?"  
"I'm trying to do a little digging," Freddie said. "But unfortunately there are four hundred and twenty-one teenage boys in this city named Scott so I can't narrow it down too much."

"I take back what I said about you being rational earlier," Sam said, rolling her eyes as she climbed into bed next to him.

"Maybe I'll look through Lauren's yearbook and see if I can find the guy tomorrow," Freddie yawned, closing his computer and placing it on his bedside table. He put an arm around Sam. "I'm glad everything turned out to be a false alarm today, though. I don't think I've ever been so relieved in my life."

"Yeah," Sam sighed. "Although if I hadn't freaked out over nothing we could've avoided that whole scare in the first place."

"Sam," Freddie said soothingly. "It was an honest mistake. And when it comes to things like this it's always better to be safe than sorry-"

"No normal parent assumes her child has cancer when it's really just the flu," Sam said.

"But Sam-"

"Every other parent can realize that a flu is just the flu," Sam continued. "Nobody else freaks out like I did!"

"Well most other parents didn't have to go through what you did," Freddie told her.

Sam looked down at her lap. "So what? Am I just gonna assume the worst every time she even coughs? What kind of mom _does _that?"

"Sam, baby, don't beat yourself up over this," Freddie said, gently rubbing her arm. "You're an incredible mom, to Lauren _and _Heather. And you were an incredible mom to Conner too."

Sam didn't reply.

"And the way you handled this whole thing," Freddie went on. "You were amazing, Sam. Me, I wouldn't have known what to do. After everything that you've been through…somehow you still managed to be strong for Heather. I-I don't know how you did it, Sam. I don't know if I could've."

Sam gave him a small smile as he leaned down and kissed her.

"Never tell yourself that you're anything less than an unbelievable parent to our children, Sam," Freddie whispered. "Because you're one hell of a mother. Always remember that."

….

The next morning, Freddie was woken by a series of loud coughs coming from his and Sam's adjoining bathroom.

"Sam?" Freddie mumbled, sitting up in bed. "You okay?"

He dragged his feet into the bathroom to find his wife kneeling down by the toilet.

"Baby, what's the matter?" Freddie asked.

"I dunno," Sam said, wiping her mouth. "I just woke up and felt really sick like I did that other day after the Mexican restaurant."  
"You know, that's around the time Heather got sick," Freddie reasoned. "You probably caught what she has and was just too busy taking care of her to realize."

"Maybe," Sam nodded. "I actually don't feel too bad anymore…I think I got it out of my system for now."

"Well maybe you should still take it easy today," Freddie said. "After all…I think we're _both _still a little worn out from last night."  
Sam chuckled as she swatted his shoulder playfully.

"Mommy! Daddy!"

Heather suddenly burst into her parents' bedroom, still in her pajamas.

"Hey, look who's up," Freddie grinned. "Looks liked those antibiotics are really kicking in."

"I hungry," Heather announced.

"Well I bet, you've barely eaten these last few days," Sam chuckled, scooping Heather up in her arms. "How does pancakes sound?"

"Pancakes!" Heather beamed excitedly.

"Good, daddy will get those started for us," Sam said. "Won't you, daddy?"

"And we're officially back to normal around here," Freddie said, heading down to the kitchen.


	9. Chapter 9

"Why'd I agree to let her do this?" Freddie asked, pacing back and forth in his and Sam's bedroom later that afternoon. "Huh? Why didn't you stop me? What was I _thinking_?"

"Oh I dunno, that you'd try to ease up on being the typical nubby dad for once," Sam said, not looking up from her laptop as she sat on their bed.

"I don't even know this boy," Freddie said, ignoring Sam's comment. "For all we know, he could be a-a-jerk!"

"Baby, it's just one little date at the mall," Sam said. "Nothing to get worked up over."

"Hopefully I'll at least get a glance of this boy when I drop her off," Freddie sighed.

"Just don't make a scene," Sam said.

"Yeah, yeah," Freddie mumbled, sitting down at the foot of the bed. "You feeling any better from this morning?"  
"Uh-huh, I told you, I think I got it out of my system," Sam nodded. "Too bad, actually, if I was sick I could've used that as an excuse not to go through all these dancer audition tapes. There's so many of them!"

"You could always go back to the dance school," Freddie said.

"Nah, I like being in charge," Sam chuckled.

Just then Lauren poked her head into the bedroom. "Um, daddy? You know we have to leave in three hours so you can drop me off. You should start getting ready so we're not late."  
"Um, I _think_ I can manage to put shoes and a jacket on in that time," Freddie frowned.

"So you excited for your date tonight?" Sam asked Lauren. "Oh, you should stop by the churro stand; I was there a few weeks ago and they're _amazing_. It's like they're right from…where are churros from?"

"Spain, baby," Freddie said. "Didn't you pay attention to that documentary we watched over the summer?"  
"Uh, no."

"Um, Sam?" Lauren asked slowly. "Can I ask you something?"  
"Sure," Sam nodded, closing her laptop. "What's up, kid?"  
"I-I know you always say you're not really into fashion or make-up or getting dressed up or anything," Lauren said. "But do you think maybe you could, you know, help me figure out what to wear tonight."  
"Yeah, I could do that," Sam smiled.

"Thanks," Lauren replied. "I already have a few things in mind. I'll go lay them out for you to see."

"Hey, Sam?" Freddie said as Lauren left the room.

"Yeah?"

"When you're helping her pick out her outfit…can you try to convince her to wear a parka or something?"  
Sam laughed as she leaned down to give him a quick kiss. "I'll try."  
"No you won't."  
"No, I won't," Sam agreed, patting his shoulder.

She headed down the hall to Lauren's bedroom, where half of the teen's wardrobe was sprawled across her bed.

"I thought you said you had a _few_ things in mind," Sam commented.

"This is a few," Lauren said. "Okay, so what do you think of this top with this skirt?"  
She held up the articles of clothing for Sam to see.

"I think you'd give your father a heart attack," Sam told her. "And he's already in there freaking out over his little girl going on her first date. Let's not stress him out anymore."

"Fine," Lauren sighed, tossing the outfit onto the floor. "Well what should I wear then?"  
"Well what about these jeans?" Sam asked. "They're your favorite pair, aren't they?"

"Yeah, but I can't wear them on a date with Scott Ackermen," Lauren said. "I have to wear something totally stunning."  
"Laure," Sam said gently. "You don't have to go over-the-top on a date, you know. You should wear something you feel comfortable in."  
"But I want to look nice," Lauren said.

"You can look nice," Sam said. "But you don't have to wear some crazy outfit to try and impress this guy."

"Well how else am I supposed to impress him?" Lauren asked, tossing aside a shirt that Sam knew would cause Freddie to pass out.

"Oh, I dunno, you could try _talking _to him," Sam smirked. "Isn't that what you usually do on first dates? You're supposed to see what you guys have in common, what kind of things he likes, tell him about what _you _like. You know, see if you guys click."

Lauren thought about this for a moment.

Sam looked down at the pile of clothes on Lauren's bed and held up a purple top.

"This one's cute; and I have some earrings you can borrow that would match perfectly with it."

"I _do _love that top," Lauren said. "And I can really borrow your earrings?"  
"Sure," Sam grinned. "I've had them for years and I hardly ever wear them. My Uncle Carmine gave them to me for my sixteenth birthday, actually. It was pretty sweet, a prison guard had to bring them over because he was in jail for something to do with a jar of horseradish…hey, you know what? You can just keep them. They've been in my family for years and you're supposed to pass them down from mother to daughter anyway."  
Lauren stared at Sam. "You-You want to give them to me?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," Sam smiled. "I do."

Lauren stepped over and hugged her tightly. "Thank you, Sam."

….

"Okay, you can just drop me off here," Lauren said as Freddie drove into the mall parking lot. "I'm meeting everybody inside."

"Alright, you have your phone on you?" Freddie asked.

"Yup."

"You have money?"  
"Yeah, but if you want to give me more, I won't mind," Lauren grinned.

"And you're _sure _you don't want me to walk you in?" Freddie questioned.

"Dad," Lauren moaned. "I'm fifteen, not five. I can walk into the mall on my own."

"Yeah, I suppose you can," Freddie sighed. "Okay, well, have a good time tonight, Lauren. I'll be out here right at ten-thirty to pick you up."

"Got it," Lauren said, quickly opening her car door. "Bye dad!"

Freddie watched as his daughter walked off towards the mall entrance, remembering when he used to take her here when she was a little girl and she'd always hold tightly to his hand, afraid of losing him.

"Bye, Lauren," he whispered.

When he returned home, Freddie felt an empty space inside of him. He wondered if this was how every father felt when they dropped their daughter off on her first date…

"Hi, daddy!" Heather said brightly, looking up from the movie her and Sam were watching on T.V.

Heather's fever had finally broke earlier that afternoon, and though she still had a bit of a runny nose and cough, she seemed to be almost back to her old self.

Freddie smiled back at his youngest daughter. "Hey, Heather, what are you and mommy watching?"

"_Pony Palooza," _Sam said.

Freddie chuckled; Sam absolutely despised Heather's favorite movie, but had sat through it at least thirty times in the last month with her.

"Daddy watch?" Heather asked.

"You know what, Heather?" Freddie said, sitting down next to his wife and daughter. "I would _love _to watch with you."

….

"I thought you said you got this all out of your system yesterday," Freddie yawned the next morning as he held Sam's hair back while she vomited the contents up her stomach. He had once again been woken up as Sam sped into the bathroom that morning.

"Well clearly my stomach didn't get the memo!" Sam snapped, breathing heavily.

"Why don't I take you to the doctors?" Freddie suggested. "Maybe he can give you some medicine like Heather got. I mean you saw how much it helped her."  
"I'm fine now," Sam mumbled, slowly getting to her feet.

"Sam, you just puked your guts out," Freddie reasoned. "Shouldn't you get this checked out now? I mean you have a busy week at work coming up."  
"Fine, I'll see if I can make an appointment for after work tomorrow," Sam conceded. "Just to shut you up…"

"Thank you," Freddie said.

"So what's for breakfast?" Sam asked, walking back into the bedroom and grabbing a pair of sweatpants and an old sweater.

"How can you possibly think of food after you just-never mind," Freddie said, shaking his head. "I should be used to this by now. I can make us some eggs or something. I guess I should save a plate for Lauren to heat up for herself around noon when she'll be waking up. I mean she stays out on this date until ten thirty, though, I might add, she didn't get to the car last night until ten thirty-four, and then she stayed up the whole night texting the boy!"  
"So? She had a good time," Sam shrugged.

"Did she?" Freddie scoffed. "Because when I asked her about the date in the car on the way home, all I got was an 'it was fun'."  
"Well baby, I _told _you, guys are just an awkward topic to talk to your dad about," Sam reasoned.

"Yeah, I guess," Freddie sighed. "But I know she told _you _all about the date, didn't she?"  
After Lauren had gotten home last night, her and Sam had gone into her room and closed the door for two whole hours, leaving Freddie to only wonder what they were discussing.

"Course she did," Sam said.

"Well?"  
"Well _what_?" Sam asked.

"Are you gonna tell me about this date that's still giving chest pains just thinking about it?" Freddie said.

"Dude," Sam laughed, rolling her eyes. "I can't tell you what Lauren told me. There's a code! But trust me, everything was fine."  
"Well fine, don't tell me everything," Freddie said. "But just a general synopsis."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You sure you want to know?"

Freddie took a deep breath. "Yes. Yes, I want to know."  
"Okay," Sam said. "Let's see-"

"Should I sit for this?" Freddie asked.

"Freddie…"  
"Alright, alright, go," Freddie said quickly.

"Her and Scott got dinner at the cheesesteak cart in the food court," Sam started. "Then they walked around the mall and it took Scott _two hours _to work up the nerve to hold her hand."  
"Two hours?" Freddie repeated.

"Uh-huh," Sam nodded. "And then right before his mom got there to pick him up, he kissed her for five whole seconds in front of Bed Bath and Bewilderment."

"And…?"  
"And nothing," Sam said. "Those are the highlights."

"So let me get this straight," Freddie said slowly. "This Scott kid takes two hours to holds her hand and then kisses her in front of a store that sells coffee filters?"

"Basically."

"Oh my God!" Freddie laughed. "He sounds like such a chump in the romance department. This is great!"  
"Oh like you were so smooth when you were fifteen," Sam snapped. "You were just as clueless about what to do on a date as Scott is!"

"That is so not-Fine, that's true," Freddie conceded. "But I'm just glad I had nothing to worry about."  
"I _told_ you," Sam said. "But Lauren still enjoyed the date. She thought it was amazing. I think she really likes this kid."

"Hey, as long as he keeps up this pace, I think I can handle this whole thing," Freddie said.

"Nah," Sam smirked. "I think you're still bound to spazz out over it eventually."


	10. Chapter 10

"Phone away at the table, Lauren," Freddie said, setting a carton of orange juice down on the table a couple of mornings later.

"No phone!" Heather echoed.

"That's my girl," Freddie grinned, high-fiving the toddler. "You tell your sister."  
"I was just sending one text," Lauren said, shoving her phone back into her pocket.

"Well it can wait till you leave the table," Freddie said.

"Man, why's today have to be my eight hour rehearsal," Sam moaned as she walked into the kitchen. "My feet are killing me!"  
"From what?" Freddie asked.

"I think those heels I wore at your boss's party you dragged me to really dug into them," Sam said.

"That was two months ago!"

"Your point?" Sam snapped.

"Well you're still going to the doctors after work, right?" Freddie said.

"Baby, can't you just drop this and-"

"Sam, you're obviously sick," Freddie said. "You keep puking up your guts when you wake up in the morning."

"That's lovely," Lauren cringed, pushing away her plate of toast.

"Doctor good, mommy," Heather said.

"Man, you are just on my side today, aren't you?" Freddie chuckled, picking Heather up out of her high chair. "What do you want?"  
Heather kissed his cheek sweetly. "I love you, daddy."  
"Aw," Sam chuckled. "How cute…I can't wait until she learns to use that power."

"Sam? Are you ready to drop me off at school?" Lauren asked, bringing her plates to the sink.

"Wow, somebody's eager to get there for once," Freddie said.

"Yeah, we still have half-an-hour," Sam nodded. "Aren't you usually still in bed now?"  
"Scott wants to meet me before class," Lauren grinned. "Hey, I'm gonna go wait out in the car, okay Sam?"

"Meeting before class?" Freddie frowned as Lauren rushed out of the kitchen. "What is this?"  
"I thought you weren't gonna freak out over all of this," Sam smirked, taking a swig of orange juice.

"Well that's when I thought this Scott was gonna take this super slow!" Freddie exclaimed. "But now he's asking her to 'meet before class'?"  
"Yeah, that's real serious," Sam said, rolling her eyes as she got to her feet. "Who knows, soon they might want to 'hang out' before class and then 'talk' before class."

"You enjoying this?"  
"Little bit," Sam smirked, kissing the top of Heather's head. "Bye sweetie, don't let daddy drive you crazy."

She leaned up and kissed her husband. "Bye Fredward, I'll see you when I get back from the doctors since I'm being forced to go against my will."  
Once Freddie heard the door close Freddie looked down at Heather.

"Heather?" he said. "What are your feelings on boys?"  
"Yuck!" Heather cringed.

"Boy, you are on a roll this morning," Freddie laughed. "Come on, I'm taking you to the toy store."  
…..

"The Fencin' Bensons?" Lauren frowned as her and Freddie sat in the living room that afternoon after school, working on her family tree. "You come from circus people?"

"Not circus people _per say_," Freddie said. "Just…Okay, yeah. Circus people."

"Man, Sam's right," Lauren grinned. "Your family is crazy."

She picked up a stack of photographs Freddie had found and brought for her to use on her project and began rifling through them. "Hey, maybe I should try fencing. I mean if half of my ancestors were so good at it, it must be in my blood, right?"  
Freddie quickly diverted his gaze. "Um, yeah…maybe I'll take you over to the gym to try it out some time," he said.

"Cool," Lauren said. "Hey, I think I'm gonna call it quits on working on this for today. I have a book report due on Friday that I should work on."

"Okay," Freddie nodded. "Let me know if you need anything."

Once Lauren had gone up to her room, Freddie took the stack of photographs and looked through them, spotting the familiar faces of his relatives.

Was it wrong of him to let Lauren construct a family tree made up entirely of people with whom she shared absolutely no relation to?

Freddie sighed, tossing the photographs down. He had to tell Lauren eventually, didn't he? He couldn't keep this a secret from her forever.

But then again, what would it solve? It would just create a big complicated mess for everybody.

Besides, how would he even bring something like that up?  
_Hey Lauren, how are you doing, sweetie? Oh, by the way, I'm not really your dad; I've just been letting you call me that your whole life. _

Freddie shook his head. He'd figure this out later. After all, he had been putting off this task for ten years now. What was a little while longer?

…

"So describe your symptoms to me," Sam's doctor said that evening after work.

"I don't have any major ones," Sam shrugged. "I told you, me coming here is just to shut my husband up, really. I've just been feeling really nauseous when I wake up. But once I puke I feel fine. Until the next morning, that is. It's nothing too big."

"Uh-huh…" the doctor mumbled, scribbling something onto his clipboard. "So basically you're experiencing morning sickness?"  
"I guess that's the-wait…" Sam frowned. "No. No, there's no-"

"Is there a chance you might be pregnant?" the doctor asked.

"No, that's ridiculous," Sam scoffed.

"So it's not at all possible?"  
"Well I mean _yeah_, it's possible," Sam nodded. "But I'm not…am I?"  
"We can do a quick ultrasound and find out right now," the doctor smiled. "If that's all right with you. If we can rule out pregnancy then we can work on figuring out another reason for your morning sickness."

"I-I-Okay," Sam stammered, feeling caught completely off guard.

"Just follow me down the hall and we'll take a look at you," the doctor said.

Sam followed him into a small room with an ultrasound machine; the same one that her doctor had used to confirm she was pregnant with Heather over two years ago.

But with Heather, Sam and Freddie had actively been trying to conceive a child. It had taken almost a whole year. Her and Freddie hadn't even discussed having another child right now.

"Alright, have a seat," the doctor said, signaling towards the long reclining chair by the machine. "This shouldn't take too long."  
"So I-I really might be pregnant?" Sam asked as she pushed her shirt up, allowing the doctor to smear a cold jelly-like substance on her stomach.

"Well, like I said, it could be a possibility," the doctor said, turning on the monitor and taking the attached device. He began to move it around Sam's flat stomach. "However, considering you seem to be in perfect health, I really cannot think of another reason for your morning sickness."  
Sam could feel her heart beating anxiously as she stared at the monitor.

"Hmm…" the doctor said slowly.

"What?" Sam asked at once. "What is it?"

"Yes, yes," the doctor said to himself.

"What are you-"

"Well, Ms. Benson, here we are," the doctor said, pointing to a small, peanut-shaped figure on the monitor.

Sam's jaw fell open. "Oh my God…so-so I am-that's my-"

"Congratulations," the doctor smiled. "You're going to have a baby."


	11. Chapter 11

Pregnant?

The word kept replaying in her head as Sam sat in her car in the doctors' office's parking lot.

She looked down at the small ultrasound picture in her hand. There is was…her and Freddie's new child.

She smiled and a tear fell from her eye onto the picture.

"Stupid hormones," Sam mumbled to herself, though still beaming.

She couldn't believe this; she had woken up this morning dreading coming to the doctors and she had just left with this amazing news.

_I can't wait to tell Freddie_, she thought, placing a hand on her stomach.

….

When Sam walked into the house a short while later, she could hear Freddie and the girls in the kitchen.

"Heather, please clean off the table!" Freddie said as he busily stirred a pot of spaghetti on the stove with one hand while scrolling along his laptop looking at a chart for work with the other. "Lauren set the table!"  
"We playing, daddy!" Heather said, looking up from the dolls she was playing with her sister with.

"Well dinner's in ten minutes," Freddie said firmly. "So you'll have to take a break from playing."  
"Mommy!" Heather exclaimed as Sam entered the kitchen. She ran over to her mother and Sam scooped her up.

"Hey, sweetie," Sam grinned. "Is that a new doll?"

Heather nodded. "She catches monsters."

"Sounds like a fun job," Sam chuckled. "Now listen to daddy and clean your toys up."

"Hey," Freddie said to his wife as she stepped over to kiss him. "Listen, you mind finishing up the spaghetti? I have an email I need to send into work that my boss needs to read in the next ten minutes."

"Sure," Sam nodded.

As Freddie grabbed his laptop and rushed out of the room, Sam looked over at Lauren as she took the plates from the cabinets.

"So how was school?" Sam asked.

"Good," Lauren replied. She paused for a moment. "Um, Scott asked me if I wanted to go to the movies on Friday."

"Really?" Sam grinned. "Nice. Is it just going to be the two of you this time?"  
"Uh-huh," Lauren nodded, her cheeks turning slightly red. "And-And he's been texting me everyday since the mall. And today when I saw him before school he told me he thought I was-I was really pretty."  
"What? Lauren, that's great!" Sam said. "It sounds like he really likes you."

"I know, I-I think he does," Lauren said excitedly. "I can't believe this…I'm finally on the brink of my first boyfriend!"

"Good stuff, kid," Sam chuckled.

"You don't think my dad will mind, do you?" Lauren asked.

"Laure, your dad's always gonna mind you going out with boys," Sam said. "In case you haven't realized yet, he's a _bit _overprotective of you girls. But he's working on it."

…

"What a day," Freddie sighed, collapsing into bed later that evening.

The couple had just finished putting Heather to sleep, a task that had taken much longer than usual. It seemed the two-year old was making up for all the energy she hadn't used when she had the flu.

"Aw, rough day as a house husband?" Sam smirked.

"Ha, ha," Freddie said dryly. "I took Heather to the toy store today and some _genius _had the idea of giving out free samples of candy there. She ate _sixteen _pieces; do you know the sugar rush I had to deal with? And then Lauren's cheer practice ran late today so I was sitting outside the school for half-an-hour, and then the car almost died on me as I was pulling onto the street so I'm gonna have to take it in tomorrow."

Sam laid down next to Freddie and put an arm around him. "Sorry, baby."  
"Eh, it's part of the job," Freddie chuckled. "Oh, anyway, I forgot to ask, how was the doctors? I mean you _did _go, right?"  
Sam smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I went."

"And?" Freddie said. "Did he figure out what's wrong or give you any of those antibiotics like Heather got?"

Sam grabbed her bag from the foot of the bed and pulled out a small pill bottle.

"No, he didn't give me any of those," she said. "But he gave me a prescription for these."

"What are these?" Freddie frowned, looking at the bottle. "Hey, these are those prenatal vitamins that you took when you were pregnant with Heather. But why would-"

He slowly looked up at his wife, his eyes widening. "No…you're not-Are you-"

Sam reached back into her bag and pulled out the ultrasound picture.

"He also gave me this."  
Freddie took the picture and stared down at it.

"Oh my God…" he whispered. "Oh my God, are-are you serious? Are we-"

"We're going to have another baby," Sam nodded.

Freddie's face broke out into the biggest smile Sam had even seen and he wasted no time throwing his arms around her and kissing her silly.

"We're going to have a baby! We're going to have a-"

"Shh!" Sam told him, grinning. "You're gonna wake up the whole neighborhood!"

"I don't believe this," Freddie said, getting to his feet. "This is fantastic! This is incredible! This is-"

"-A huge shock," Sam added.

"Well yeah," Freddie agreed. "I mean we weren't even trying…But-But that doesn't matter! We're going to have a baby!"

"I know," Sam nodded, amused at her husband's reaction.

"I guess we should've known, actually," Freddie said. "I mean the morning sickness was a giant sign."

"Guess we just didn't connect the dots," Sam commented. "To be fair we had a lot on our minds the last few days."  
"I just-Come here," Freddie said, wrapping his arms around her again. He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "I love you," he whispered. "So much."

"I love you too," Sam replied.

…..

"A family tree is supposed to be something I can throw together in the last minute," Lauren mumbled as she sat at the kitchen table the next afternoon after school. "It's supposed to be just me connecting lines to people and gluing pictures to cardboard. But of course Ms. Pompel has to go and make this thing practically a senior thesis. I've been working on this for a whole week and I'm not even halfway done yet!"

"Well it looks great, honey," Freddie said as him and Sam looked at her work.

"That me!" Heather said happily, pointing to her picture on the project.

"That's right, that's you," Sam nodded, smiling down at her daughter in her arms.

"Actually, Laure," Freddie said, glancing at the picture of Heather, which was connected up to the pictures of Sam and Freddie. "There is something you need to fix with this layout."  
"Huh?" Lauren frowned. "No there isn't. I have everybody connected exactly like they should be!"

"True," Sam nodded. "But you're still missing something."  
"What?"

"You're gonna need to draw another line here," Freddie said, pointing to a blank space by Heather's picture.

"Um, how come?" Lauren asked. "That's where the children you and Sam have together go. You guys just have Heather so no one else needs to-wait…"

The teen looked from Sam to Freddie, slowly catching on. "Are you saying…no way!"

She jumped up out of her seat. "Is this for real?"  
"It is," Freddie nodded, putting an arm around Sam.

"Oh my God!" Lauren squealed, hugging Sam and her father. "This is amazing! I can't believe this, you guys!"  
"What?" Heather asked, confused.

"Heather," Sam said. "We have some really exciting news for you, sweetie."

"You're going to be a big sister," Freddie told her.

"How?" Heather asked.

Freddie laughed. "Your mommy and I are going to have another baby."

"Baby?" Heather gasped. "I want baby! Where baby?"  
"Well you're not going to get to see the baby for awhile," Sam explained. "It's growing inside of me right now."  
"In you?" Heather asked, amazed.

"Uh-huh," Sam nodded, putting a hand on her stomach. "Right here. Right were you grew."  
"Baby there?"

"That's right," Freddie nodded. "That's where your baby brother or sister is."

Heather reached down and put her hand on Sam's on her stomach.

"Hi baby!" Heather said loudly. "I love you!"


	12. Chapter 12

"How far along did the doctor say you were?" Freddie asked as him and Sam got ready for bed that night.

"He told me I'm just about two months into it," Sam replied.

"Wow, that only leaves us seven months to get ready," Freddie pointed out. "We need to clean out the spare bedroom…we can move in Heather's old crib from the garage, though I guess it would be smart for us to do that after we paint the room."

"I need to call Carly and tell her," Sam said. "She's gonna freak."  
"We need to make another appointment, don't we?" Freddie asked.

"Already did," Sam nodded. "First of next month. Think you can make it?"  
"Of course I can make it!" Freddie said. "Sam, I wouldn't miss it for the world."  
Sam smiled. "You're really excited?"

"Sam, getting to add another child to this family with you is the most exciting thing I can imagine," Freddie whispered, kissing her softly. "I can't wait for our new son or daughter."

….

"Come on, Heather, time to wake up," Sam said a few days later, turning on the light of her daughter's room.

"I up!" Heather said happily, looking up from her stuffed animals she was playing with on her bed.

"Course you are," Sam chuckled, grabbing some clothes to start getting the two-year old dressed.

"Baby here now?" Heather asked.

"No, sweetie, daddy and I told you," Sam said. "The baby has to grow before it comes. You'll get to see the baby towards the end of April. That's about seven months from now."  
"That's long!"

"Sorry, kid," Sam smiled. "But hey, you can help us get ready for the baby while you wait. Soon we can start going through some of your old toys and things for you to pass along."  
"My toys?"  
"Not ones you still play with," Sam assured her. "But the ones you've gotten to old for."  
"Cause I big girl?"  
"Exactly," Sam grinned as she finished pulling on Heather's clothes. She picked her up and kissed the top of her head. "Alright, daddy went to go pick up donuts for breakfast so he'll be back soon. Let's go _try _and wake up your sister."

Sam headed down the hall to Lauren's room and opened the door.

"Alright, Lauren, time to get up," Sam said. "And I know all the tricks in the book; I _invented _them. No 'ten more minutes' or 'resting your eyes'. Let's go and-"

Sam frowned as she realized that she was speaking to an empty room. Lauren's bed was already neatly made and the curtains were pulled back, allowing the sun to shine in.

"Morning!" Lauren said brightly, coming out of the bathroom, fully dressed.

"You're up already?" Sam asked, surprised. "What's going on? This is the third day in a row that no one's had to drag you out of bed."

"Well Scott's football practices are in the mornings way before school, so I like to tell him good morning before he starts," Heather replied. "I already made the coffee downstairs too. I made a pot of decaff for you, Sam."  
"Oh, thanks," Sam smiled. "Wow, if this guy can actually manage to get you out of bed at a decent hour, your dad may _not _have too big of a freak attack about the two of you going out again."

The three headed down into the kitchen just as they heard the front door opening.

"Sam, how are you doing on getting Lauren out of bed?" he asked, carrying two donut boxes into the kitchen. "She needs to be ready to go in forty-five minutes or she's going to be late and-"

He stopped talking as he suddenly spotted his oldest daughter sitting at the table.

"She's _up_?" Freddie commented. "Again? Wow, three days in a row."

"Morning, daddy," Lauren said sweetly, kissing his cheek as she took a donut from him.

"Impressive," Freddie said as Lauren headed back upstairs. "You know, I was hoping she'd grow out of that sleeping in till noon stage. Guess she's really starting to mature and-"

"You do realize she's waking up early so she can text with Scott, right?" Sam smirked.

"Scott? What the-Come on!" Freddie exclaimed, his smile dropping at once. "In that case I'd rather he still be trying to sleep through the morning!"

"Dude…"  
"You know, we don't know anything about this Scott kid!" Freddie continued. "We've never met him! I for one don't like the idea of Lauren gallivanting around with some _stranger_. I'm going up to tell her right now that if she wants to continue to associate with this boy, I want to officially meet him and _see _if I approve of-"

"Daddy? Sam?" Lauren asked, coming back into the kitchen. "Can I talk to you about something?"  
"Well what a coincidence," Freddie said, crossing his arms. "I was just about-"

"Can Scott come over for dinner on Saturday?" Lauren asked. "Please? I want him to meet you guys so you can get to know him better."  
Freddie blinked. "I-Oh…Yes. Yes, that's-that's fine."

"Don't you love it when your rants fall flat?" Sam asked.

"Cute," Freddie said, rolling his eyes.

….

"Pregnant? Are you serious? Oh my God Congratulations!"  
"Thanks, Carls," Sam beamed at her best friend through the computer screen.

She hadn't talked to Carly in ages. It wasn't because the two weren't still best friends; they were. But living in two different time zones did make things a bit complicated. Carly and Sam had always managed to work around this, though, and despite the fact that it had been over six months since they last talked, it was as if nothing had changed.

"You guys must be so excited!" Carly continued.

"We are," Sam nodded.

"Have you told the girls yet?"  
"Uh-huh. Heather's ready for the baby to be here tomorrow," Sam chuckled.

"Aw, that sounds adorable," Carly laughed. "I need to go down there to see her again; I haven't seen her since her first birthday. She probably has no idea who I am."  
"Eh, sure she does," Sam said. "Freddie and I talk about you all the time."  
"Is Lauren excited too?"

"Yeah, she can't wait either," Sam replied. "Oh, speaking of Lauren…guess who has her first little boyfriend."

"No way!" Carly gasped. "You're kidding!"  
"True chiz," Sam told her. "They went to the mall together, they're gonna go see a movie and they even had their first kiss."

"Wow…" Carly said. "It seems like just yesterday she was that sweet, little five-year old we were meeting for the first time."

"And last year she officially passed me in height," Sam sighed. "Crazy."

"Well I'm sure Freddie's _loving _all of this," Carly said knowingly.

"He's…_dealing _with it," Sam said. "We're actually gonna meet the guy this weekend when he comes over for dinner, so maybe that will help Freddie feel a little more comfortable."  
"Hope so," Carly smiled. "Anyway, I need to get going. I have a meeting about the layout of next month's issue. But we _need _to see each other soon! In person; not through a computer screen. Maybe I can look into taking a weekend off and flying down there."  
"Well I'll be up there in March," Sam reminded her.

Ever since Sam had moved to Texas ten years ago, she still made a trip to Washington once a year on March 4th, Conner's birthday, to visit her son's grave.

"Right," Carly nodded. "I'm still gonna try and come down there, though. It's starting to get cold up here so I could use some of that famous Texas warmth."

Sam laughed. "Hey, you're welcome any time. See you later, Carls."  
"Later, tell everyone I said hi!"

….

"What are you working on?" Sam asked later that evening, stepping out of her and Freddie's bathroom, fresh from the shower.

"Huh?" Freddie said, looking up from the notecards he was writing on as he sat in the bed. "Oh, just…things. For-For work."  
Sam tossed the towel that she had been using to dry her hair haphazardly over the bedpost and picked up a notecard.

"Where do you see yourself in ten years?" Sam read. "When was your last vaccination? Have you ever been convicted or charged with a felony? Oh my God! Tell me this is _not _what I think it is."

"It's not…" Freddie said lamely, avoiding her gaze.

"It is!" Sam said, rolling her eyes. "You're making up questions for you to ask Scott when he comes for dinner this weekend so you can give him the third-degree!"

"They're conversation starters!" Freddie defended.

"Baby…please don't embarrass Lauren," Sam said. "This is her first boyfriend and-"

"Exactly; she doesn't know what to expect from this whole dating thing!" Freddie said. "I have to make sure that this chump is qualified to take care of my daughter!"

"Well Scott probably doesn't know much about dating either," Sam said. "Remember, he did kiss her in front of Bed Bath and Bewilderment. Weren't you so happy about his lack of experience? You're gonna scare _him _out of ever wanting to date again."  
"I'm not gonna scare him," Freddie assured her. "I'm just gonna get to know him…And if I so _happen _to come off as a tad bit intimidating then, well, we'll just have to deal with it."

"Whatever," Sam conceded. "Just don't be too big of a nub."

"Hey, you think if I email your Uncle Carmine he could overnight me a set of his brass knuckles?"  
"Dude…"  
"I was kidding!" Freddie exclaimed.

Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Sort of…"

Just then Freddie's phone began to ring.

"Who's calling you this late? It's almost midnight," Sam asked as Freddie looked at his screen.

He frowned. "Um, it's-it's Sarah."

It had been about three years since Freddie had last spoken to his ex-wife; that had been the last time he had taken Lauren and dropped her off with her mother for lunch at a small diner before picking her back up an hour later.

Sam's stature seemed to tense tightly.

"Well you should answer it," she said softly. "Might be important…"  
Freddie took a deep breath before he picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Freddie," he heard Sarah's voice on the other line reply. "Listen, I'm shopping for Lauren's birthday present in this adorable boutique. It's where all the celebrities buy clothes for their kids. I could've sworn I saw Tom Cruise as I was walking in…Anyway, I need to know Lauren's dress size. I found the most _darling _pink dress for her."  
"Lauren hates pink," Freddie replied simply.

"She hates pink…" Sarah repeated. "What? Is that something she picked up from that that tomboy wife of yours?"  
Freddie didn't reply, but simply gripped his fist tightly.

"Then what should I buy her then?" Sarah asked tiredly. "What is she into now?"

"Well," Freddie said coldly. "The person you _should _be asking is Lauren. But seeing as you haven't seen her or even spoken to her in ages, I'm sure that'd be a little awkward. That's why you called me, isn't it, instead of her?"  
"I-"

"Call Lauren, you should have her cell number," Freddie said. "Or if you'd rather not face her, just go back to ignoring her. But don't pretend you've suddenly took an interest in your daughter if you still don't care."  
Sarah was silent on the other end.

"By the way," Freddie said coldly. "Lauren's birthday was four months ago."  
And with that he hung up, tossing his phone down with a disgusted look on his face.

"What did she want?" Sam asked, putting an arm around him.

Freddie shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "She wanted to buy Lauren a pink dress for her birthday. You know, the birthday she already had."

Sam scoffed. "Nice."

"Lauren deserves so much better than her," Freddie said bitterly. He looked into Sam's eyes. "Which is glad she has you."

Sam smiled as she kissed him. "I'm glad I have her too."

That night, though, as Freddie lay in bed, his arms wrapped around Sam, he couldn't sleep.

He knew he was a better parent to Lauren than Sarah ever was. He knew he always had been.

But no matter what, Sarah would always still have one thing that he'd never have; an actual blood relation to his daughter.


	13. Chapter 13

"Okay! Scott's almost here!" Lauren announced loudly, stepping into the kitchen. "Are we ready, people?"

"What? Are we going to war or something?" Freddie scoffed, looking up from the coloring book he was working on with Heather.

"Daddy, what are you guys doing? You can't be _coloring _when Scott gets here!" Lauren frowned.

"Yeah, it's not exactly _intimidating_," Sam whispered to Freddie as she pulled a tray of garlic toast out of the oven.

"We have to get this out of here," Lauren said, grabbing the coloring book.

"Mine!" Heather cried indignantly. "I color!"

"It's okay, sweetie," Freddie soothed Heather, trying to calm her down. "You and I will get back to our picture later.

"How's dinner coming, Sam?" Lauren asked, shoving the coloring book into a nearby drawer.

"It's done now," Sam said as she finished mixing sauce and meatballs into a large pot of spaghetti on the stove.

"See daddy, _this _is how you should be preparing!" Lauren said.

"Oh I'm prepared," Freddie mumbled as he placed Heather in her highchair.

Just then there was a knock at the door.

"He's here!" Lauren gasped. "Okay, everybody be nice!"  
"I should've brought my fencing gear in here so this guy would know he's dealing with a skilled athlete," Freddie said as Lauren raced out.

Sam laughed.

"What?"  
"Nothing, nothing," she said quickly, patting his shoulder as she leaned up to give him a quick kiss. "You ready for this?"  
"Not really," Freddie sighed.

"Dad? Sam?" Lauren said as she came back into the kitchen followed by a tall, dark-haired boy. "This is Scott. Scott, these are my parents."

"Hi," Sam smiled. "Nice to meet you, Scott. We've-"

"Hello, _Scott_," Freddie cut her off, extending a hand to the boy. "Glad you could make it. It's a good thing you could come this weekend because _next _weekend I'm going to be away at a fencing tournament. You know, the sport with the long, sharp swords that you jab each other with? Yeah, I'm somewhat of a professional-"

"You haven't fenced in over twenty years," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"That doesn't mean I still don't know what to do!" Freddie hissed.

"Uh-huh…I'm _sure _you can still-"

"Um, excuse their _insane _arguing," Lauren said quickly to Scott, shooting Sam and Freddie a glare. "They do this all the time. You-You really get used to it if-"

"It's okay," Scott said, shaking Freddie's hand. "Nice to meet you guys. Um, actually, when my mom dropped me off here a few minutes ago, I-I sort of promised I'd get her your autographs."

"Huh?" Lauren said, confused. "You want _their _autographs?"

"How come?" Sam asked, also confused.

"Well when Lauren gave me the address here and my mom entered it in her GPS system in her car, it showed your names and apparently you two were on her favorite web show when she was a kid," Scott explained. "I think she said it was called-"

"iCarly," Freddie finished for him. "Wait…your mom was really a fan?"

"But that show's, like, a hundred years old," Lauren said.

"_Thanks_," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"Well she said she really liked all the technical effects on the show," Scott said. "She said it inspired her. Now she has a job adding all sorts technical effects to video games and stuff."

"Wow…" Freddie grinned. "That's actually pretty cool."  
"You mean someone actually liked the boring tech junk on the show more than mine and Carly's comedy?" Sam frowned.

"I mean it's easy to see why she was so inspired," Scott continued. "She showed me some of your work and it's really impressive. I sort of want to go into the tech field myself when I get older…I'm nowhere near as good as you were at my age, though, sir."

"Oh, I'm sure you're talented," Freddie said, clearly enjoying the flattery. "If you'd like sometime, I could show you-"

"Um…so are we ready to eat?" Lauren asked, quickly changing the subject. "Hey Scott, why don't you tell my parents about the football team? You know, something unrelated to computers…"

…

"I've got to say…" Freddie said later that evening as him and Sam did the dishes (or rather, while he did the dishes while Sam watched). "That Scott seems like a pretty decent guy."  
"You just like him because he called your tech junk impressive," Sam scoffed.

"And you're just jealous because finally, after two decades, _somebody _appreciated my tech work on iCarly more than your comedy," Freddie smirked.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Wow…Looks like somebody is still just as gullible as he used to be."  
"What? What are you talking about?" Freddie frowned.

"Come on," Sam said. "You don't really think that kid actually cares about white balances or tripods or whatever other stuff he brought up during dinner?"

"They're interesting topics!" Freddie defended. "And you should be happy we talked about them all through dinner. I didn't even get a chance berate Scott about his top college choices."

"Freddie, he was _faking_ it," Sam told him.

"Faking it?" Freddie sputtered. "That-That punk! Are you sure? Well I'm gonna go out there right now and-"

"Dude, chill out!" Sam said quickly. "Don't you see? You had Scott so worried about making a good impression on you tonight that he actually took the time to research all that boring junk."  
"Wait…really?" Freddie said slowly.

"Baby," Sam said gently. "Lauren told me a few nights ago that Scott's so dumbfounded when it comes to technology he once tried to make a call from his tablet."

"So-So he doesn't really care about anything he was talking to me about…" Freddie said slowly. "He did that just because-"

"Because he wanted you to like him," Sam nodded. "And obviously if he's willing to torture himself reading up on _white balances_, he cares a lot about what you, Lauren's father thinks of him because he really cares about _Lauren_."

Freddie pondered this for a moment. "I guess…I guess he does seem to really like her. And he does seem like a good kid…"  
"So you're gonna be okay with this?" Sam asked, squeezing his shoulder.

Freddie sighed. "I'll try."

….

A few nights later, Sam lay on her bed, watching television. Freddie was downstairs working and Lauren was out with Scott, who was now officially her boyfriend.

Sam noticed that Freddie would still purse his lips whenever Lauren mentioned his name, but she was quite impressed with the way Freddie was handling this big step in his daughter's life.

"Mommy?"  
Sam looked over and saw Heather standing in her doorway.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" Sam grinned, holding her arms out for the toddler to join her on the bed.

"I not sleepy," Heather said. "How long until baby comes?"  
Heather had gotten into the habit of asking this question at least once a day.

"It's the same answer I gave you during your bath," Sam replied. "Seven months."

"Why?"  
"Because," Sam said patiently. "All babies take about nine months to grow before they're born."

"Not me," Heather pointed out.

Sam laughed. "Yes you. You took nine months before you were born too. Just like your brother or sister is now."

"I did?"

"Uh-huh." Sam nodded. She lifted her daughter onto her lap. "Hey? You wanna see some of your old baby pictures?"

"Yeah!" Heather said excitedly.

Sam reached into the drawer of her bedside table and pulled out a small photo. Freddie had insisted they put it together a few months ago as an attempt to organize the mountains of photographs they had. Ironically, as much as Freddie loved technology, he liked to keep his photos the traditional way, and Sam had to agree.

"Let's see…" Sam said, flipping through the book. "Yup, here you are."  
She showed Heather the picture of her that had been taken about an hour after she had been born. Sam was holding her as she lay in her hospital bed and Lauren was standing next to Sam, smiling down at her new sister.

"That me?" Heather asked, staring at the small bundle of blankets.

"That's right, that's you," San said. "See how tiny you were? Well right now your brother or sister is even _tinier _than that. According to the doctor, the baby's about the size of a peanut right now."

"That small!" Heather gasped, amazed.

"I know," Sam agreed. "And that's why we need to wait for the baby to grow before it can come out."

Heather nodded. "Lauren a baby?"  
"Yeah, Lauren was a baby once too," Sam chuckled, flipping through the book, finding some of Lauren's old baby pictures that Freddie had put in. "See, this is Lauren when she was a baby. I bet it's kind of funny seeing what your big sister looked like when she was a baby, huh?"

"Funny!" Heather laughed.

Sam watched as Heather turned the pages of the photo album, looking through pictures of her and Lauren at all different ages.

"Who this?" Heather suddenly asked as she turned past the page with pictures from Lauren's middle school graduation.

Sam's smile dropped as she stared down at the picture Heather was pointing at. It was of a two-year old Conner playing at the park.

Heather didn't know anything about Conner yet; Sam had always planned on telling her, but two-years old was far too young for her to understand, she reasoned.

Now, though, it didn't seem like she had anyway out of it.

"That's Conner, sweetie," Sam sighed heavily. "He's-He's your big brother."

"I have brother?" Heather asked, confused.

"Yes," Sam said softly. "Or well, you-you did. See, Conner was my son that I had before daddy and I got married."  
Heather stared blankly up at her mother, clearly not understanding these details.

"Conner got really sick, Heather," Sam explained. "And he died way before you were born."

"That sad," Heather said, and Sam gently kissed the top of her head.

"It is," Sam whispered. She wrapped around her daughter tightly. "You know you look a lot like him…"

Shortly after she had gone through the photo album, Heather fell asleep in Sam's arms. Sam knew she still didn't understand too much about Conner and that she'd have to explain it again once she was older. She didn't mind though; in fact, she almost envied Heather's child-like ignorance.

Freddie walked into the room later that evening, yawning.

"What's Heather doing in here?" he asked, kicking off his shoes. "We put her to bed hours ago."

"She found her way back in here," Sam said simply. "You care if she sleeps with us for tonight?"

Freddie smiled. "Of course I don't."


	14. Chapter 14

As Sam's pregnancy progressed, the Benson's got more and more excited for the upcoming addition to their family. Heather, possibly the most anxious for the baby to arrive, had taken to taping up pictures she had drawn to the walls of the room that would be used for the new child almost every day.

"She keeps this up and we won't have to buy wallpaper," Sam commented one evening as Freddie worked on clearing out the lasts of the boxes in the closet of the room.

"Good idea," Freddie chuckled. He looked over his shoulder at his wife, who was sitting in a rocking chair in the corner, absentmindedly drawing circles with her fingers over the small bump of her abdomen. Sam was almost five months along now and was really beginning to show. She had had to break out her maternity clothes a few weeks ago and she now claimed she had a right to be in sweatpants almost around the clock.

Still, though, Freddie thought she couldn't look any more perfect.

"What are you staring at?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Freddie smiled. "It's just…you know how beautiful you are, right?"

Sam blushed. "Jeez…I forgot how sappy you get during pregnancies."

Freddie laughed as he stepped over and sat on the arm of the chair, leaning down to kiss her. When he pulled away he rested his hand next to hers on her abdomen.

"When's the doctor's appointment again?" he asked.

"Three weeks," Sam replied. "And that's when we can find out if we're having a boy or a girl if we want."

"Right," Freddie nodded. "Well, um, _do _we want to find out?"  
"I don't know," Sam said slowly. "I mean I guess it would help with the preparations, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, and it would be easier to start narrowing down names," Freddie agreed.

"But…" Sam said thoughtfully.

"What is it?"

"I dunno, it's just, this whole pregnancy was a surprise, wasn't it?" Sam said. "We weren't planning on having another baby right now, right?"  
"Yeah," Freddie nodded.

"So don't you think it might be fun to kind of keep the surprise going?" Sam said. "And find out the gender when the baby's born?"  
"Hmm," Freddie said. "Actually…that sounds like a pretty good idea. I like it." He put his arm around Sam. "We'll get to hear the doctor cry out 'it's a boy' or 'it's a girl' the second he or she is born."  
"I know," Sam grinned. "I can't wait."

…

"-And then Scott brought me this red rose to trig class," Lauren said a few evenings later as the family sat down at the dinner table. "Isn't that so romantic?"

"Lovely," Freddie said, rolling his eyes.

"And then at lunch he gave me a brownie his mom made," Lauren continued. "It was delicious."

"Nice," Sam smirked. "You know, when your dad and I dated in high school the only food his mom ever made for _me _were spinach cakes."

"Yuk!" Heather cringed.

"Yeah, well, just be lucky you escaped her tofu loaf," Freddie chuckled.

"And then after school today-" Lauren started.

"So Laure, how were you actual classes today?" Freddie cut her off. "Er, not that I wouldn't _love _for you to talk about your boyfriend the whole meal."  
"Oh, they were fine," Lauren replied. "Oh, did I tell you? You remember that family tree I did a few months ago?"

"Sure," Sam nodded.

"Well my teacher was so impressed by it that she wants to keep it to use as an example for her future classes!" Lauren grinned.

"Wow, way to go, Lauren!" Freddie said proudly. "See, and you were so against doing it at the beginning."

"It was actually really cool learning about your guys' families," Lauren said. "I was kind of thinking about continuing it. At the end of every semester, my teacher lets us do an extra-credit assignment and I might do something more on our family history."

"Great idea," Freddie said. "It's nice to see you so excited about this."

"Mommy, I done!" Heather exclaimed, pushing away her plate of half-finished chicken nuggets.

"Heather, finish your dinner," Freddie told his daughter. "You're going to be hungry again in a few hours."

"Mommy not done," Heather said, pointing to Sam's still full plate.

"Mommy's not feeling too well, Heather," Sam replied. "But _you _need to finish."

"You okay?" Freddie asked, concerned.

"Yeah, it's just heartburn I think," Sam shrugged. "I got it around this time when I was pregnant with Heather, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Freddie nodded. "Well I'll get a container to store your chicken in for now. Because I _know _around two in the morning you'll be hungry for it again and I'll be woken up to get it for you."

"Thank you, baby," Sam grinned as Freddie took her plate up to the counter.

"Daddy, choco milk?" Heather asked sweetly as Freddie got up.

Freddie laughed. "So you're too full for dinner, but you have plenty of room for chocolate milk, huh?"  
Heather nodded.

"Eat a few more bites," Sam told her. "And then you can have chocolate milk."

"Okay!" Heather agreed, turning back to her meal.

"Shoot…we're out of milk," Freddie pointed out, opening the fridge door.

"No choco milk?" Heather frowned.

"We're gonna need milk for breakfast in the morning," Freddie said. "I might as well go buy some now. You'll still get your chocolate milk, Heather. Anything else we need from the store?"

"I could go for some gummy worms," Sam replied. "Oh, and some kiwis."

"Since when do you eat kiwis?" Freddie asked, amused.

"Since I've been carrying _your _kid," Sam said firmly. "Now are you gonna get me my fruit or sit here and be difficult?"  
"And the mood swings have officially started…" Freddie mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?"  
"Nothing," Freddie said quickly, closing the fridge door. "Alright, I'll be back soon."  
"Wait, daddy, can _I _drive to the store with you?" Lauren asked. "I can practice parking when we get there!"

Freddie sighed. "Sure, why not? Come on, Laure."

"Have fun," Sam smiled as her stepdaughter scrambled from the table. "Oh, and Freddie? Get me some peanut butter while you're at it."

…

The next morning Sam groggily opened her eyes and turned her head to look at the clock on her bedside table. It was slightly after six. She briefly wondered what had awoken her; she normally didn't wake up from morning sickness until at least seven.

"Did I wake you?"  
Sam turned and saw her husband pulling on a button down shirt across the bedroom.

"It's Saturday," Sam yawned. "Why are you up so early?"

"I got an emergency text from my boss," Freddie explained. "Apparently some of the systems are down at work and he needs all the extra hands he can get."  
"What kind of a jerk makes you drop everything on a Saturday morning to go to work?"

"It's fine," Freddie shrugged. "Thought I was gonna work on moving some baby stuff down from the attic today….I guess I can always do that tomorrow."

"How long are you going in for?" Sam asked.

"Hopefully not long," Freddie replied. "With any luck I'll be back here before lunch."

He stepped over to Sam's bedside and gave her a quick kiss. "I'll see you in a little bit, baby."

"Bye," Sam mumbled sleepily, already laying back down and closing her eyes.

…

"This is so cool; do you know my dad's great grandfather was not only a fencer, but the owner of this small chain of drugstores?" Lauren said to Sam later that day as she scrolled along on her laptop. "They went out of business, though, due to some tick infestation…"

"Well that explains his mom's fear of ticks, I guess," Sam said. She fidgeted in her seat, trying to get comfortable. Since she had gotten out of bed that morning, Sam had felt unusually awkward. She had terrible cramps and it seemed with every movement she felt sick. She made a mental note to ask the doctor about it when she went to her next appointment. She remembered feeling similar to this when she was pregnant with Heather two years ago, but that had been towards the end.

_Guess this baby's just really active_, Sam thought to herself, feeling her unborn child shift inside of her. She could feel a few gentle kicks against her abdomen.

"Is the baby kicking again?" Lauren asked excitedly as Sam placed her hands on her stomach. "Can I feel?"  
"Sure, but hurry up before it stops," Sam nodded.

Lauren rushed over and placed her hands next to Sam's.

"That's awesome!" Lauren grinned.

"This kid's being extra energetic in there today," Sam said, shifting again in her seat, feeling a numb pain in her lower abdomen.

"Mommy? I watch pony movie?" Heather asked, coming into the living room with her favorite DVD.

"No, Heather, it's time for _you _to take a nap," Sam said. "In fact…I might go lay down for a little too."

"No nap!" Heather said loudly.

"Do you want me to read to you before you go to sleep?" Lauren offered.

Heather's scowl instantly turned into a smile. She loved having her older sister read to her.

"Lauren read to me!" she exclaimed happily.

"Thanks," Sam said to Lauren as the teen took her younger sister's hand. She watched her daughters head upstairs before heaving herself up off the couch and making her way up to her bedroom.

The second she reached the last step, though, she suddenly felt another pain in her lower abdomen. This pain was much sharper than the first, though, and Sam had to grip the railing of the stairs to keep from falling.

Despite the fact that she had been feeling pains all day, this was the first time Sam was worried…

Still wincing, Sam reached her bedroom and slowly sat down on the bed. She was still in pain, and, if anything, it was only intensifying.

_What's going on_? Sam thought anxiously. This hadn't happened during either of her pregnancies; not with Conner or Heather.

She felt another sharp pain ripple though her body, sending her jumping to her feet and forcing her to let out a soft cry. She looked back down where she had been sitting on the bed and saw a small pool of blood.

Sam's eyes widened in fright and she grasped the bedpost for support.

Something was wrong. Something was _very_ wrong. Her unborn child was in danger, that much she knew.

"Lauren!" Sam called out loudly. "Lauren!"  
"What?" Lauren asked, coming into the bedroom. "I was reading to Hea-Are you okay, Sam?"

"I-I don't know," Sam said, trying to keep calm as to not alarm Lauren. "Lauren, I need you get my keys, get Heather, and drive us to the hospital. Now."


	15. Chapter 15

Freddie walked through his front door, exhausted from a long day at work. "Man, you wouldn't believe my day," Freddie said, hanging up his jacket. "I basically had to reset every computer in the office and-"

He stopped talking as he suddenly realized nobody was listening. He frowned. Normally Heather would've been running into his arms, the television would be turned on, or at least he'd have been greeted with _some _noise, not this stone silence.

"Sam?" he called out.

He headed into the kitchen only to find it empty like the living room had been. "Lauren? Heather? You guys home?"

_Guess they headed out,_ Freddie figured. _Well then I think __**I'm **__gonna take advantage of this peace and quiet to take a quick nap. _

Just as Freddie was about to head up to his and Sam's bedroom, though, his phone rang in his pocket. Lauren's name flashed across his screen.

"Hey, Lauren," Freddie answered, pressing his phone to his ear. "Where are you guys? I just got home from work."

"Um, we-we're at the hospital," Lauren said slowly.

"The hospital?" Freddie exclaimed, his eyes widening. "What? Why? What happened? Who's hurt?"  
"It's Sam," Lauren explained shakily. "I don't know what's wrong…but-but at home she needed me to drive her to the hospital. She was bleeding a lot…And when we got to the hospital she-she told the doctors she thought there was something wrong with the baby."

Freddie felt his blood run cold.

"Can you come here?" Lauren asked softly. "Heather and I are in the waiting room…they wouldn't let us go back with her."

"I-I'll be there in five minutes," Freddie said at once, already on his way out the door before he had even hung up the phone.

….

Freddie rushed into the hospital's waiting room, instantly spotting Lauren sitting in the far corner.

"Lauren…"  
As soon as she spotted her father, Lauren got to her feet. As Freddie wrapped his arms around her, he noticed how terrified she looked.

"They still won't tell me anything," Lauren told Freddie. "They said they would only give _you_ news. When they have it, that is…I still don't even know what's going on. I-I tried to get us all here as fast as I could and-"

"You did great, honey," Freddie assured her. "Thank-Thank you for taking care of Sam like that."  
"Daddy!"  
Freddie looked down to see Heather sitting in the chair next to the one Lauren had just vacated. She held up her arms for him. "Daddy, want mommy!"

"I know you do," Freddie said, picking her up and kissing the top of her head.

"Mommy sick?"

"Mommy-Mommy's going to be just fine," Freddie said slowly. He set Heather back down. "Lauren, I'm going to try and figure out what's happening here. Keep an eye on Heather, okay?"

Lauren nodded, still looking scared.

Freddie went over to the front desk, where a young nurse was sitting at the computer.

"Hi," Freddie said hurriedly. "Um, my-my wife was just brought in here by my daughter…Samantha Benson. I need someone to tell me what's wrong right now. She's pregnant and-"

"Ms. Benson is still in treatment," the nurse replied promptly. "She's in the middle of a blood transfusion right now."

"Blood transfusion?" Freddie repeated weakly. "But-But what _happened_?"

"I will have her doctor come and talk with you in a moment," the nurse told him. "If you'll just have a seat I'll tell him you're here."

"I'm not gonna sit around out here while my wife is back there!" Freddie said, his voice rising. "I want to at least know what's wrong with her and-"

"Is this Ms. Benson's husband?" a doctor asked, stepping out from the hallway behind the desk.

"Yes," the nurse nodded. "I was just about to get you."

"What's wrong with my wife?" Freddie demanded once again. "Please, can someone tell me _something_?"

"Step back here with me, Mr. Benson, and I'll take you to see your wife," the doctor replied simply.

"Can my daughters come too?" Freddie asked.

"No, I'm afraid we can't allow minors in to see her at this time," the doctor answered. "In a few hours they can come back and see they're mother."

"Girls, I'll be back," Freddie called over his shoulder as he followed the doctor out of the waiting room.

As the doctor led him into his office a few doors down the long hallway, Freddie jogged to keep up.

"So Sam's alright then?" he asked anxiously. "And the baby? Can you just-"

"Your wife is suffering from unusually strained kidneys, Mr. Benson," the doctor said, stepping into a small office.

"What?" Freddie frowned.

"Strained kidneys," the doctor repeated. "See, when a women is pregnant, all of her organs receive additional strain. That is normal. But your wife's kidneys weren't in an ideal state before her pregnancy."

"What do you mean?" Freddie said, confused. "Her kidneys were fine! She never-"

He suddenly fell silent. Sam never talked about it, but Freddie knew why Sam's kidneys would be less-than fully functioning. After Conner had died, he knew she had slipped into an alcoholic state. And despite the fact that in all their time together, Sam had never once had a drink, he realized there had to have been some lasting damage.

"But she carried our other daughter, Heather, with no problems," Freddie said weakly. "There-There were _no_ problems then."

"Yes, well, we can't always predict these things," the doctor said heavily. "There are a number of factors that could be affecting your wife during this pregnancy that weren't in play during her last that could've caused the additional strain. It could've been anything from her diet to everyday stress."

"So-So is she going to need treatment then?" Freddie asked, panic coursing through his body. "A transplant? I'll do any test you want to see if I'm a match, just-"

"There's no need for that," the doctor said quickly. "True, your wife's kidneys are slightly less healthy than we would expect to find in an average person, but she's not in any grave danger from them under normal conditions. Most likely after this pregnancy her kidneys will cause her no more problems."

"So-So she's okay?" Freddie asked hesitantly. "Sam's okay?"

"Your wife is resting right now, but she's going to be okay," the doctor assured Freddie. "She arrived just in time for my team to give her a blood transfusion to account for the blood loss and prevent any further damage. She's lucky, though. Had she gotten here a bit later she might have suffered permanent issues."  
"And-And our baby?" Freddie asked slowly. "Is the baby okay?"

"Fortunately, yes," the doctor nodded. "We were able to save this pregnancy."  
"Thank God," Freddie breathed, feeling a weight lift from his chest.

"However," the doctor continued. "This incident is indicative that this pregnancy is most likely going to be a difficult one…"

"What do you mean?" Freddie asked, the worry flooding back into his veins. "You just said her and the baby were fine."

"Fine and an easy pregnancy are not synonymous, Mr. Benson," the doctor said. "Your wife is going to need to be on bed rest for the rest of her pregnancy. Absolutely no moving around for the next two weeks, so she's going to have to stay here. After that she can go home, but she can have only minimal movement; basically the only reason she can leave bed is to use the bathroom. Also, I'm going to schedule her for a C-section; it's too risky for her deliver this child naturally."

"Okay," Freddie nodded. "That's all fine. As long as her and our baby are okay."

"Let me bring you up to your wife's room now," the doctor said, getting to his feet. "She's still quite out of it, but she's been asking for you. Or I'm assuming it's you she's asking for…she keeps mumbling 'bring me Frednub' while she's drifting in and out. She must mean Fredward, I'm guessing."  
Freddie cracked a small smile. "No, she doesn't."


	16. Chapter 16

Sam struggled to keep her eyes open as she looked around the hospital room. She had been drifting in and out and had only just realized where she was. As Sam continued to fight the urge to go back to sleep, she placed a hand on the small swell of her abdomen.

At that contact, it all suddenly hit Sam; she was in the hospital because there had been something wrong with the baby!

Her memory flooded back to her as she pulled herself up into a seated position. Was everything okay with her and Freddie's unborn child?  
She tried to locate a call button on the side of her bed, desperate for news. Before she could do so, however, the door to her room opened and Freddie walked in.

"Freddie!" she said at once. "Did-Did they tell you what happened? Did anybody tell you anything?"  
"Sam," he said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down. Don't work yourself up right now."  
"How can I-"

"The baby's fine," Freddie told her. "Your doctor was just talking to me."

Sam breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God…I-I don't know what happened, Freddie. I-I just remember there being a lot of blood…Lauren drove me here and then I think I passed out or something. But-But the doctor said the baby's fine?"  
"Yes," Freddie nodded. "But-But, um, the doctor also said this is going to be a difficult pregnancy."  
Sam blinked. "What do you mean? You said-"

"The-The doctor said the reason you had to be rushed here was because this pregnancy is putting a lot of strain on your body," Freddie explained. "Which is normal for all pregnant women. But with you…um, well, the doctor said that your kidneys were a little more strained than usual _before _you got pregnant."

"What?" Sam frowned. "But-But I never had any problems before!"  
"He said they weren't strained enough to cause you any real danger or discomfort before," Freddie replied. "It's just with this pregnancy…"

"But-But why are my kidneys-" Sam started, but then her voice trailed.

"Sam-"

"It's my fault," Sam said softly. "I-I did this to myself when I was drinking-"

"Don't think that way," Freddie said firmly. "This isn't your fault. Look, everything is going to be okay. The doctor said after you give birth your kidneys should be fine again."  
Sam didn't reply.

"You-You're going to have to stay here a couple more weeks," Freddie continued. "Um, and then when you come home, you're gonna have to be on bed rest-"

"Bed rest?" Sam repeated. "I can't be on bed rest! My maternity leave doesn't start for another few months and we have a _toddler_! How am I supposed to take care of Heather in _bed_? And what about Lauren? Who's going to take her to school and drive her places when you're busy?"  
"Sam, don't worry about all of that," Freddie said. "Right now we need to focus on making sure you and this baby are safe for the rest of your pregnancy. You'll just have to start your maternity leave now. I'm sure the dance company will understand. And I can handle the girls. I can drive Lauren wherever she needs to be and I'll handle Heather. I stay with her while you're at work, don't I?"  
"But-But what if you have to go into the office?"

"I'll bring her with me if I have to," Freddie shrugged. "Listen, I'll make sure it all works out, okay? _You _just focus on resting up."

Sam looked down at her lap.

"Baby, this isn't your fault," Freddie whispered, squeezing her hand. "These things…sometimes they just happen."

"I know," Sam said softly. "But-But if I just hadn't-"

"Don't," Freddie said firmly. He leaned over and kissed her. "Now, are you up for some company? The girls are out in the waiting room. They're real worried about you."

"Sure," Sam said heavily. "Oh, um, by the way, I wasn't paying too much attention during the ride over, but Lauren did a pretty good job driving…"  
Freddie smiled. "Guess my lessons have been paying off then." He gave her another kiss. "Sam, we're gonna get through this, okay? You're going to relax in bed for the next four months and then our new son or daughter is going to finally join us. It's all going to be alright."  
Sam took a deep breath before nodding, giving him a small smile. "Thank you."

….

"When you come home?" Heather asked Sam later that day, as the toddler sat next to Sam in the hospital bed.

"Not for a couple more weeks, sweetie," Sam replied, giving her daughter a sad smile.

"But I want mommy," Heather pouted.

"We'll visit her every day," Freddie promised. "Mommy just has to stay here to make sure everything is okay with your brother or sister."

"Baby hurt?"

"Er…no," Sam said slowly. "This is just so the baby doesn't _get_ hurt."

"At least your room has a view," Lauren commented, looking out the window by Sam's bed. "You can see the sun set and rise every day."

"Like I'll be up for the sunrise," Sam chuckled.

"Visiting hours are almost up," Freddie said, glancing at his watch. "We should go…is there anything you want me to bring you when we come by tomorrow, Sam? I'm already bringing your laptop, some magazines, the comfy blanket from the bed…"

"That's all I need," Sam replied.

"Alright," Freddie said, giving her a kiss. "I should get these two home."  
"Can I drive, daddy?" Lauren asked.

"Um, I-I dunno Lauren," Freddie frowned. "It's getting dark and-"

"Hey, if Lauren got me from home to here in less than ten minutes _while _obeying every traffic rule and parking _perfectly_, I think she'll be fine," Sam said, grinning at Lauren.

"Well…okay," Freddie agreed.

"Thanks, Sam," Lauren beamed.

"Thank _you_, Laure," Sam said. "You really saved the day today."

"I stay with mommy," Heather said firmly, hugging tight to her mother's arm.

"Aw honey, I-I wish you could," Sam said. "But the hospital won't let you. Besides, you don't want to sleep here in this stuffy little hospital room. Wouldn't you rather sleep at home in your own bed with all your toys?"  
"No!"

"I've got her," Freddie said, gently picking up the child from the bed. "Come on, Heather. You can make mommy a really nice card when we get home."

"This sucks," Sam sighed, looking at her distressed daughter and wanting nothing more than to get up and go home with her family.

"It's only temporary," Freddie reminded her. "We'll be back her first thing in the morning. Just try and get some sleep."

"We'll bring you breakfast from The Biscuit Factory," Lauren promised. "I remember how gross the food is here from when I volunteered over the summer."  
"You're the best," Sam smiled.

"We'll miss you," Freddie said, giving his wife one last kiss. "Love you, Sam."  
"Bye, Sam," Lauren waved.

"Bye-bye, mommy," Heather sniffed.

Freddie knew how hard this was on Sam. As he looked back at her before leaving the room with Lauren and Heather, he could see how much she wanted to be going with them.

"Alright, Lauren," Freddie said as the family walked through the hospital hall. "With Sam on bed rest, I'm really going to need your help taking care of things around the house."  
"Yeah, no problem," Lauren nodded.

"I'll need you to help with Heather and pitching in a little more with the housework," Freddie told her. "We need to make sure Sam is completely relaxed until this baby comes."

"Okay," Lauren said. "So does this mean that the baby and Sam are both going to be alright?"  
Freddie sighed. "I sure hope so, Lauren."

…

It was very late, but Sam still couldn't sleep. She was still trying to wrap her head around all that had happened that day.

She had been beyond terrified. Those few fleeting moments when she thought she was going to lose this baby…

She placed her hands on her stomach, feeling a surge of relief as she felt a gentle kick from her unborn child.

It was going to be weird for her, though, being on bed rest for four more months. Normally she'd be overjoyed for an excuse to lounge around and have everyone wait on her hand and foot, but oddly enough, now that it was actually happening, she wasn't looking forward to it.

Sam sighed as she leaned back against her pillow. She supposed she had no choice in the matter, though. If bed rest was what was going to keep this baby safe until it was born, than so be it.

_Four months isn't __**that **__long_, Sam reasoned to herself. _And now I can finally catch up on some T.V. shows. I've been dying to see that one show about the circus freaks everybody keeps talking about…I'm sure this is gonna fly by. And once the baby gets here, I'm gonna be begging for this rest back. Might as well take advantage of this time until May when-_

Suddenly, Sam bolted up in her bed.

This child wasn't going to be born until May. She was going to be on bed rest until _May_.

Conner's birthday was in March…this was going to be the first year since he died that she wouldn't be able to go back to Washington to visit his grave.

She _couldn't_. If she wasn't allowed to go downstairs in her own home, she surly wouldn't be allowed to travel halfway across the country.

She could feel the tears welling in her eyes as she laid back down.

And, for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, she felt as though a part of her was crumbling.


	17. Chapter 17

"Heather, come on, finish your breakfast," Freddie said, trying once again to spoon oatmeal into Heather's mouth.

"No!" she said firmly. "Want mommy!"

"We're going to go see mommy," Freddie said. "But you have to eat your breakfast first. Lauren! Lauren, let's go! I have to drop you off at school before we go to the hospital."  
"But I want to see Sam," Lauren said, pouring herself some coffee.

"We'll go after you get out too," Freddie told her. "But if we're not out the door in five minutes we're going to be late. What happened to this streak of you being ready on time? I thought you wanted to leave early to see _Scott_."

"He has a dentist appointment and won't be in until third period," Lauren replied.

Freddie rolled his eyes. "Of course. Alright, do me a favor and try and get Heather to finish her breakfast while I go grab Sam's stuff to give her. Maybe you'll have better luck."

Leaving his daughters in the kitchen, Freddie headed up to his and Sam's bedroom. He grabbed her favorite pillow, her laptop, her slippers and a few magazines. As he gathered everything up, he glanced at his and Sam's bed. He had spent all of last night trying to scrub Sam's blood off of their sheets, but he had no luck. He supposed they would just have to throw them away.  
He sat down at the edge of the bed, wondering how he'd get through the next two weeks without his wife. In all their time as husband and wife, they hadn't ever spent a night apart. Last night he spent half the night tossing and turning, trying to get used to the feeling of not having Sam lying next to him.

_You'll just have to deal with it,_ Freddie told himself firmly. _Sam has it much worse than you do right now. If anybody has a right to complain about anything, it's Sam. _

So giving a soft sigh, Freddie headed out of the bedroom, suddenly realizing how lonely the room felt.

….

"Mommy!"

The second Freddie stepped into Sam's hospital room with Heather in his arms, the toddler held her arms out and squirmed around, trying to free herself so she could rush over to her mother.

"Hi, sweetie," Sam said, shifting in her bed.

"Want mommy!"

"Hold on, Heather," Freddie said, readjusting his daughter in his arms. "You can't run over to mommy. You have to be very careful around her because of the baby and-"

"She can come," Sam said, patting an empty space on the bed next to her. "She'll be fine and sit still, won't you, Heather?"  
"Uh-huh."  
"Okay," Freddie said slowly, gently placing Heather down on the bed.

Heather wrapped her arms around her mother's arm at once. "Miss mommy."

Sam kissed the top of Heather's head. "I miss you too, honey. So, _so_ much."  
"Lauren wanted to come with us, but you know, she has school," Freddie said, setting down the bag of Sam's belongings on the empty chair by her bed as he leaned down give his wife a kiss. "I'll bring her by later in the day, though."

"Good," Sam nodded.

"I brought your stuff, though," Freddie said. "And I picked you up a few extra things. I got you a fluffy sweater since it's a bit chilly in here, some of your favorite chocolates, Mad Libs…just some things I thought would make you more comfortable here."

Sam gave him a weak smile. "Thanks."

Freddie frowned. Something was wrong. He knew Sam was less than thrilled when the family left her yesterday, but right now she looked far worse. There were circles around her eyes and several balled up tissues littered her bedside table. She had been crying.

"Sam?" Freddie asked softly, sitting down by the bed next to her. "Baby, are-is everything okay?"  
Sam didn't reply as she absentmindedly stroked Heather's blonde curls.

"Sam?" Freddie said again. "You-You're not still blaming yourself, are you? Because there's no way-"

"It's not that," Sam whispered.

"Then what is it?" Freddie asked. "Talk to me. Whatever's wrong, I'll fix it."

"I'm on bed rest until May," Sam said shakily.

"Er…yes, that-that _is _what we established yesterday," Freddie nodded. "Listen, I know it's going to be hard for you, but I'm going to make sure everything is handled around the house and with the girls so you-"

"No," Sam said softly. "That's not what I mean…I-I can't go back this year, Freddie."  
"Go back?" Freddie repeated, confused. "Where are you-Oh."  
At once it clicked in Freddie's head. There was going to be no way Sam could go back to Washington to visit Conner's grave on his birthday as she always did in her current condition.

"I-I-We'll figure something out," Freddie said.

"There's nothing you can do," Sam said, and Freddie could tell she was trying as hard as she could to keep herself together for Heather's sake.

"We can talk to your doctor," Freddie offered. "Maybe-Maybe there's some way we can get you to-"

"They're not gonna let me on a plane like this," Sam mumbled. "And a car ride that's gonna take over a whole day can't be good for the baby."

"Well maybe-"

"I don't want to risk anything happening to the baby," Sam said. "I-I couldn't forgive myself."  
Freddie said nothing.

"It just sucks," Sam said, her voice cracking. "It's like-It's like I'm breaking a promise to him…"

Freddie opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly realized he didn't know how to fix this.

Their entire marriage, Freddie had prided himself in always being able to be there for Sam, no matter what. Now, though, for the first time, he felt useless.

…..

"I can't believe it took me ten whole minutes to come up these stairs," Sam said two weeks later as Freddie and Lauren helped Sam down the hallway to her bedroom. "I should've spent more time downstairs. You know, since I'm not even gonna be able to see it for another four months."

"Dad has a bunch of his lame _Galaxy Wars _stuff set up down there," Lauren said. "So maybe it's a good thing you didn't."  
"Nice, Freddie," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "I'm in the hospital for two weeks and you dorkify my house."

"I moved all that stuff down there so it wouldn't be up here with you," Freddie said.

"Oh…I guess that's sweet," Sam shrugged as she carefully sat down in the bed.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Lauren asked. "Daddy picked us up bagels for breakfast this morning and we saved you some."  
"I could go for one," Sam smiled. "Thanks, Laure."

"Alright, well, I need to go pick Heather up from the sitter's soon," Freddie said as Lauren headed out of the room. "But before I go, is there anything else you need up here?"  
Sam shook her head. "No. I'm actually pretty tired. I think I'm gonna try and take a nap."

"Alright," Freddie nodded, giving her a long kiss. "I'm glad you're home, Sam. I've really missed you."

Sam squeezed his hand. "I missed you too."

"When you wake up, maybe the four of us can watch a movie up here together," Freddie suggested. "That way you can have some company."  
"Yeah, I'd like that," Sam nodded.

Freddie leaned down to give her one last kiss before turning to head out of the bedroom. Before he stepped out, though, he looked over his shoulder to give Sam one last look.

As Sam leaned back against her pillows, Freddie saw her staring sadly at the photograph of Conner on her nightstand.

He could've sworn he saw a tear sliding down her cheek.

Softly closing the door behind him, Freddie let out a long sigh. He desperately wanted to help Sam, but he knew that getting her out to Washington was simply not an option right now.

Still, though, there had to be something he could do…

And then suddenly, as if a light bulb had gone off in his head, an idea came to him.

He just hoped he'd be able to make it happen…


	18. Chapter 18

"Alright, Heather, you get a special treat today," Freddie said as he helped the toddler pull her shoes on. "You get to have Lauren babysit you while daddy runs out for a few hours. Won't that be fun?"

"Lauren fun!" Heather smiled.

"I brought Sam breakfast, daddy," Lauren said, coming into the room.

"Great, thanks a lot, Laure," Freddie said as he finished tying the laces of Heather's shoes. "Okay, Heather, you're all set. Go ahead and play."

"Dad," Lauren said. "Is it me or does Sam seem a little upset lately? All week she's just kind of been, I dunno, out of it."

"I know," Freddie sighed as Heather hopped off his lap and ran out of the room. "Sam's just going through a lot. I mean she's been in the hospital for two weeks, now she's being cooped up at home…she's not used to it. Plus, well, with her being on bed rest she realized that-that she's not going to be able to go back to Washington this year like she always does to visit Conner, so that's really taking a toll on her too."

"That's so sad," Lauren said softly.

"It is," Freddie agreed heavily. "But I'm hoping what I have planned for today will help to take Sam's mind off of things."

"What are you going to do?" Lauren asked.

"You'll have to wait and see," Freddie smiled, getting to his feet. "Alright, I need to get going. Thanks again for watching Heather, you're really helping me out. In fact, tonight, why don't you go out and have a little fun?"

"Cool!" Lauren grinned. "Scott wanted to go to the movies tonight. I'll text him and let him know it's on."

"Ugh, the movies?" Freddie frowned. "Wouldn't you guys rather go somewhere _better_? Like a library?"

"Um, _no_," Lauren said. "Now where did I leave my phone…?"

"Movies…" Freddie muttered darkly as Lauren headed out of the room. "I know what happens at the _movies. _No one winds up watching the dang screen!"

…..

_Why can't they have decent shows on during the day? _Sam thought to herself as she flipped through the channels of the television. _It's just a bunch of stupid game shows and soap operas! _

Deciding to give up, Sam turned off the T.V and tossed the remote down, leaning against her pillows.

It had been one week since she had returned home from work the hospital and she did not know how in the world she was going to survive three more months of bed rest. She was so bored! For once in her life she actually _wanted _to get out of bed and do _something_.

She sighed as she looked over at her nightstand, staring at the picture of Conner. That was another thing she hated about being confined to her bed; she literally could not escape the haunting reminder that she wouldn't be going home to her son.

As she continued to stare at the picture, she briefly wondered what life would be like if Conner was still around. He'd be turning from fifteen this year. Like Lauren, he'd probably be begging to learn to drive every chance he got. He would've probably been taller than her by this point, and he might've even had a girlfriend who Sam would of course deem not good enough for him…

"Hi mommy!"

Sam turned towards the door and saw Heather bouncing in with Lauren at her heels.

"Hi girls," Sam smiled.

"We got bored downstairs," Lauren explained, helping her sister up onto the bed. "Care if we sit with you for a little?"

"Go for it," Sam nodded, pushing some pillows out of the way. "What have you guys been up to today?"

"I was trying to work on my extra-credit project for history," Lauren replied. "But Heather kept running around getting into everything."

"Well I can keep her up here with me so you can work if you want," Sam said.

"No, it's okay," Lauren said.

"How's that project going, anyway?" Sam asked. "You're doing a report on your family history, right?"

"Uh-huh," Lauren nodded. "It's going to be a lot more detailed than my family tree. It's a lot of work, but I actually really enjoy it. It's cool."

"You're enjoying a school project?" Sam smirked. "You are _definitely _your dad's daughter."

…..

A couple of hours later, Heather and Lauren were still sitting on the bed with Sam. Heather was fast asleep and Lauren was absentmindedly flipping through channels.

"Where's Freddie?" Sam yawned. "I didn't know he was gonna be gone _all day_. Did he tell you where he was going, Laure?"  
"Um, no," Lauren said quickly.

"Well then I wonder where-aw man! He's probably down at the computer store," Sam sighed. "Some new software thingy was supposed to come out today…He's probably been standing in line waiting to get it this whole time! Unbelievable! You know, I should-"

"Should what?" Freddie suddenly asked, coming into the room.

"Dude, where have you _been_?" Sam asked. "You've been gone four almost five hours. I swear, if you left me to go to that stupid computer store-"

"I didn't go to the computer store," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "Even though the new software that was released today would allow me to process data from a whole range of programs 5.6 percent faster than-"

Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Er, anyway," Freddie said, changing the subject as he sat down on the bed next to his wife, giving her a quick kiss. "Listen Sam, I know you've been feeling upset lately; about the scare you had earlier and having to be on bed rest and not getting to-er, well…the point is, I-I know that this has been rough on you. And-And I really wanted to do something that would make you feel maybe a little bit better."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked curiously.

Freddie smiled as he got to his feet, giving her one last kiss. He walked back across the room and poked his head out into the hall. "Alright, come in."  
"Who are you talking to?" Sam frowned. "What did you-Oh my God!"

Carly stepped into the room from the hall, dropping her bag on the ground as she hurried over to Sam.

"Sam!" Carly exclaimed, throwing her arms around her best friend.

"Careful," Freddie said.

"Sorry," Carly said, quickly releasing Sam.

"It's okay, it's okay," Sam assured her. "But what-what are you _doing _here? You didn't tell me you were coming!"

"Freddie called me a few nights ago," Carly explained. "He told me you could really use some company, so we decided to surprise you."

"Aw, baby," Sam beamed, looking over at Freddie.

"Surprise," Freddie chuckled.

"And Lauren!" Carly gasped, standing up to hug the teen. "Look at you! You must've grown five inches since I last saw you!"

"Hi, Carly," Lauren greeted her, returning her hug.

On the bed, Heather slowly began to stir and open her eyes.

"Looks like somebody's awake," Sam chuckled.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Carly said. "I didn't mean to wake her. But _whoa_! That cannot be the same little girl I saw two years ago!"

As Heather sat up, she looked at Carly with a confused expression.

"Heather, sweetie, you know who this is," Freddie said, scooping his daughter up in his arms. "This is Carly, your mom's and mine's best friend. She came to see you right after you were born."

"Hi Heather," Carly grinned. "Wow, you look just like your mommy. Only with your daddy's eyes."  
Heather buried her face in her father's shoulder, wary of the strange new woman.

"Eh, she's just being shy," Sam told Carly. "Trust me, give her a few more hours and she'll be chatting you up like crazy. But wow, I-I still can't believe you're here! How long are you in town for?"

"About a week," Carly replied. "It's all the time I could get off on such short notice."

"That's okay, a week's better than nothing," Sam reasoned. "Man, I _really_ wish I wasn't stuck in bed now."

"Hey, we'll still have a good time," Carly said. "I brought a ton of old DVDs that we used to watch when we were kids. You and I are going to have a week-long marathon of _Girly Cow_ and _Celebrities Underwater_. I bought the boxed sets of each, they're in my bag. Freddie, would you mind-"

"Here you go," Freddie said, handing Carly her bag.

"See!" Carly said happily, pulling out the DVDs. "We've got extended scenes, outtakes, behind-the-scenes…the whole nine yards!"

"No way!" Sam grinned as she picked up the _Celebrities Underwater _DVD. "This is the season where Ryan Seacrest went head-to-head with Oprah!"

"Who's Ryan Seacrest?" Lauren frowned.

"Great," Freddie said, shaking his head. "Now I feel old."

"Dude, this is incredible!" Sam said excitedly. She looked back over at Freddie. "Thank you for doing all this, baby."

"Hey," Freddie smiled. "I'd do _anything _for you."


	19. Chapter 19

"So how have things been going down here?" Carly asked later that evening as she sat with Sam on the bed, taking a slice of pizza from the box Freddie had brought up for them.

Sam shrugged. "It's been alright. Well I mean…I'm guessing Freddie told you what happened a few weeks ago?"

"All he told me was that you had to stay in bed until the baby's ready to be born for both of yours' health," Carly said.

"Yeah, well that's true," Sam sighed. "Apparently this pregnancy is putting all sorts of stress on my kidneys. They were already kind of bad from all that drinking I did…"

Carly gave her a sympathetic smile, knowing the direction this was going in. "But the point is you and your baby are going to be okay, right?"

"Um yeah, as long as I stay in bed the doctor said there should be no more complications," Sam nodded.

"Then you need to just dwell on _that_," Carly said firmly.

"But if I hadn't sat there and drank all day everyday for-"

"It happened, and you moved past that time in your life," Carly said softly. "You haven't touched a drop of alcohol since. It's not fair for you to keep beating yourself up over something that you can't change now."

Sam didn't reply.

"Conner wouldn't want you to do this to yourself," Carly added gently.

"I know…" Sam whispered. She looked up at Carly. "You realize this means that I can't go back to see him this year on his birthday, right?"

Carly frowned. "Oh…"

"This would've been his fifteenth birthday," Sam said heavily. "Crazy, huh? That means its been eleven years since…"

Carly said nothing as she simply wrapped her arms around her best friend.

"Should've known this would have to happen eventually," Sam mumbled. "But still-"

"There's really no way you can drive down?" Carly asked. "What if-What if you drive up instead of fly? Isn't that supposed to be less strenuous? Especially if you were to get like an RV or something so you can lay in bed the whole time still and-"

"My doctor said it would still be too risky," Sam told her. "And-And I can't chance anything happening to this baby, Carly, I-I couldn't handle it."

Carly nodded.

"But, um, do you think you could do me a favor?" Sam asked.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Can you go out there to the cemetery on his birthday?" Sam questioned. "I-I just don't want to have _no one _there. It would feel wrong. And-And you were his godmother and he loved you a lot and-"

"Of course I'll go out there with him," Carly said at once.

Sam smiled. "Thank you, Carly. That means a lot to me."

…..

"You sure you don't mind sleeping down here on the couch?" Freddie asked later that evening as he set down a pile of blankets and a large pillow at the foot of the couch. "We can always put you up in Lauren's room."

"No, this is fine," Carly said. "I don't want to push her out of her own room. Hey, where _is _Lauren?"

"At the movies with her little boyfriend," Freddie sighed. "Speaking of which, her curfew is in five minutes. She better be home soon."

"Oh, that's right!" Carly grinned. "Sam told me she was dating someone. His name is Scott, right? Sam says he's a nice guy."

"Yeah, he's great," Freddie mumbled darkly as he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I just wanted to thank you again for coming out here for the week, Carls. I think you're really going to help Sam a lot."

"I hope so," Carly said. "It's just so sad that she's not going to see Conner this year."

"Believe me, I wish there was something I could do to make that happen," Freddie said. "I just feel so _helpless_; like I should be doing more for her."

"Hey, you're doing plenty," Carly said. "Sam knows how lucky she is to have you by her side though all of this."

"Yeah, but still," Freddie sighed. "I always just feel like I don't know how to help her whenever it comes back to Conner. I-I mean I was absent from her life through all of that; when she needed me the most I was hundreds of miles away here in Texas, married to Sarah."

"But you're here for her now," Carly said. "That's all that matters."

Just then the front door opened and Lauren walked into the house. "Hi daddy, hi Carly."  
"And where have you been?" Freddie demanded. "Your curfew is eleven, young lady. And it is now…eleven. Oh."

"Were you waiting up here for me just to yell about me being on time?" Lauren asked, rolling her eyes.

"Ha, ha," Freddie said.

"Your dad was just helping me set up my bed down here," Carly said. "And he told me you were out on a _date_."  
"Oh, yeah," Lauren grinned. "Scott and I went to go see that new movie with the monkeys that take over the world. He was so sweet; he bought me a slushie."

"Pfft, that's nothing," Freddie scoffed. "When Sam and I dated in high school, I used to buy her half the concession stand."

"You'll have to tell me all about this Scott," Carly continued. "I don't know if your parents have told you, but I _love _this romance stuff."

"You'll see when you have a meal with her," Freddie told Carly. "She'll mention the name 'Scott' at least twenty times."

"I don't do that!" Lauren defended. "What? Do you keep a tally?"

"That wouldn't surprise me," Carly chuckled.

"Moving on," Freddie said, shaking his head. He turned back to his daughter. "Do you have plans tomorrow, Lauren? I was going to do some more work in the baby's room and I could use an extra set of hands."

"I was going to go to the coffee shop with Danielle to study," Lauren replied. "I want to get some more work done on my extra credit assignment."

"Oh, that sounds cool," Carly said. "What's your assignment about?"

"About my family history," Lauren grinned. "It's so neat. I've traced dad's family back six generations already! I want to see how far I can get."

"It's actually pretty interesting for me too," Freddie said. "I'm finding out all sorts of things. Apparently my great-great-great grandfather was a train conductor. Man I wish I could've met him. We could have talked trains together!"

"And it's really cool now because in my biology class, we're learning about how traits are passed down from one family member to the next," Lauren continued. "So I'm going to see if I can trace handedness through dad's side of the family. I mean he's left handed, I'm right handed, there's got to be a nice mix."

"You can find all that?" Carly asked, impressed.

"Maybe," Lauren shrugged.

"Hey, she's pretty savvy," Freddie said. "She got her dad's Internet skills, after all. I'm sure she can handle this. Hey, I can always give you a hand, sweetie, if you ever need-"

"That's okay," Lauren said quickly. "I think I can finish everything up on my own."

"Oh, well, alright then," Freddie said.

"I'm gonna go to bed," Lauren said, giving her father a kiss on the cheek. "Night daddy. Night Carly."  
"Night, Lauren," Carly smiled.

"Good night, honey," Freddie said.

"I still can't get over how grown she's gotten," Carly said. "When I met her she was just five years old and now she's driving and _dating_. Crazy."

"You can say that again," Freddie agreed.


	20. Chapter 20

"You guys will have to come up to visit me after the baby's born," Carly said on the last night of her stay as she sat in the chair by Sam and Freddie's bed. "Maybe for Christmas."

"That could be fun," Freddie agreed.

"Yeah, the kids could finally see snow," Sam agreed.

"And maybe we could even convince Spencer to fly over and join us," Carly smiled.

"Man…I haven't seen Spencer in years," Freddie sighed. "Not since our wedding, Sam."

"Well he's in Australia," Sam pointed out.

"I still can't believe that," Freddie chuckled. "When you told me that when you first came to Texas, Carly, I thought you were joking."

"He's happy down there," Carly shrugged. "So is his family. Even if that means I never get to see my nephew. You know, between you guys, you're _really _depriving me of the opportunity to spoil these kids."

"Oh yeah, I can't believe Dustin's gonna be eighteen this year," Sam said. "Man…that's crazy."

"You know, I've only met the kid once," Freddie said. "At our wedding. Did you guys get to spend a lot of time with him back in Washington before they moved?"

"Yeah, we used to babysit him at our apartment all the time," Carly nodded. "And once Conner was born he used to go by Sam's place a lot to play with him."  
"Yeah, he was like a big brother to him," Sam smiled.

"That's sweet," Freddie said, squeezing his wife's hand.

"Well, I hope you guys really _do _come up for Christmas," Carly said. "It gets a little lonely up there by myself that time of the year."  
"We'll try our best," Freddie promised.

"Remember when we were kids and we used to spend every day together?" Sam sighed. "And now all of us get together only once every few years?"

"I know, it's weird," Carly agreed. "But I'd say we're doing pretty well with it."

Sam nodded. "Yeah…I guess we are." She let out a soft sigh. "So what time does you plane leave?"  
"Three in the morning," Carly sighed.

"I'm going to drive her to the airport in a few hours," Freddie said.

"Wish I could come with you guys," Sam said.

"I know, so do I," Carly said. "But…we have two hours left. We better make the most of them."

…

A few weeks after Carly left, Sam was lying in bed as Freddie sat next to her, scrolling along on his laptop screen.

"So tomorrow I'm going to take Lauren to school, drop Heather off at Mrs. Putman's house," Freddie said. "And then I'm going to come back here and take you to the doctors."

"At least I'll get to leave the house," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm thinking it might be a good idea to maybe move you downstairs after today, though," Freddie said. "You know, so you won't have to deal with the stairs each time you need to go to the doctors."

"You're kicking me out?" Sam said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I'm not kicking you out," Freddie smirked. "I'm just saying it'd be easier for _you_ if you don't have worry about climbing a full flight of stairs when you get back. I can set up a real comfy bed down in my office."  
"Yeah, I-I guess that would be easier," Sam agreed slowly. "But…I dunno, I don't want to stay down there all by myself. I'm lonely enough already."

"What? You think I'm just gonna leave you down there every night?" Freddie grinned. "I'd sleep down there with you, baby."

"You would?" Sam smiled.

"Of course; I don't want to sleep up here alone either," Freddie said, leaning down to give her a quick kiss.

"Well in that case…I guess I can deal with moving," Sam said, leaning back against her pillows. "Plus, if I'm downstairs maybe I won't feel so isolated. I would've never thought I'd hate bed rest so much."  
"Less than three months left," Freddie reminded her. "Remember, it's all going to be worth it in the end."

"I know," Sam said, resting her hands gently on her stomach.

"You know, at dinner today, Heather did the cutest thing," Freddie said, closing his laptop. "She was eating her spaghetti and decided it'd be faster if she tied all her noodles in a knot so she could slurp them all up at once."

"Aw, really?" Sam chuckled. "Did she get very far?"  
"Nah, because she realized she doesn't know _how _to tie knots," Freddie said. "Still, it was pretty funny."

"Hey, I was thinking earlier," Sam said. "You know, while I was laying here doing nothing…Remember right before Heather was born how we took an entire day and spent it with Lauren so that she wouldn't feel so replaced by the new baby?"  
"Yeah," Freddie nodded.

"Well we should do it again with Heather and Lauren," Sam said. "Or, well, you should at least. I can't exactly do much of anything. But this kid _is _gonna be here in ten weeks. Maybe it would be a good idea for you to take the girls out and have some fun while it's still just the two of them."

"It wouldn't be the same without you, though," Freddie said.

Sam gave him a small smile. "I know, but I was doing some reading earlier and-"

Freddie gave her a strange look.

"You don't realize how _bored _I get up here, okay?" Sam defended. "Anyway, I was reading and apparently if kids around Heather's age aren't properly prepared, they won't adjust right when the baby arrives. She'll feel all left out and forgotten."

"Huh, I've read that too," Freddie said thoughtfully.

"Just take the girls to the movies," Sam suggested. "Or to the beach or something. Or talk to Lauren and see if she has any ideas."

"I could do that…" Freddie said. "You're right, it would be good for Heather. And Lauren. I know she's older, but I don't want her to feel overshadowed by this new baby either."

He looked at his watch. "In fact, Lauren's probably still awake now. I'll go run the idea by her."

"Alright," Sam yawned. "Hey, before you come back, though, can you bring me up a grilled cheese sandwich?"  
Freddie rolled his eyes. "Whatever you want."

He got up from the bed and headed down the hall to Lauren's bedroom. He saw the light shining from the crack between the door and the floor, meaning his daughter was still awake.

"Lauren?" he said, knocking shortly before opening the door and stepping inside.

Lauren was sitting at her desk on her laptop. As soon as she saw Freddie step into the room, though, she quickly slammed the laptop shut.

"What are you doing?" Freddie frowned.

"Just homework," Lauren said quickly.

"Um…okay," Freddie said, choosing to ignore Lauren's sudden secrecy. "So what have you been up to? You were really quiet at dinner tonight."  
Lauren shrugged. "Nothing."

"Nothing? Come on, you're in high school," Freddie grinned. "Something exciting had to happen today."

"Just the usual class stuff," Lauren said, rolling her eyes. "Do you really want to hear about how my teacher lectured for a whole fifty minutes about _Pride and Prejudice_?"

"You okay, Laure?" Freddie asked, concerned about her attitude. True, he knew she was a teenager and he'd have to learn to accept the occasional sarcastic comment, but he knew his daughter, and he could tell something was bothering her.

"I'm fine," Lauren said, getting up and moving to her bed.

"Honey," Freddie said gently, sitting down next to her. "I'm your father. You can tell me what's wrong. Are you not doing good in one of your classes?"

"My classes are _fine_."  
"Well did you and Danielle get into a fight or something?" Freddie tried.

"No."

"Well did something happen between you and Scott?"

Lauren didn't reply.

"Wait a minute…I was right, wasn't I?" Freddie said slowly. "Something happened with Scott? Alright, am I going to have to go over there and teach this guy a-"

"It was nothing like that," Lauren said softly, and Freddie could tell she was now on the verge of tears. "He didn't do anything."

"Well then what happened?" Freddie asked, putting an arm around her.

"We broke up," Lauren said shakily.

"Oh…Oh, Lauren, I'm sorry," Freddie said, hugging her tightly. As much as he despised her dating, he knew how much she had cared for Scott.

"It's so unfair," Lauren sniffed, burying her face in her father's shoulder.

"I know it is," Freddie soother her, gently stroking her hair like he used to do when she was younger.

"Neither of us even wanted to break up," Lauren sniffed. "But his stupid parents are moving to _Alaska_. You know how far away that is? He's leaving in three days because his dad got a new job and I'm probably never going to see him again."

Freddie didn't know what to say. He had been so busy on focusing on making sure Lauren didn't get her heart broken by Scott that he hadn't even stopped to think how he would handle it if he _wasn't_ able to protect her.

"I knew it was too good to last," Lauren mumbled miserably as Freddie grabbed a tissue and handed it to her.

"You really liked him, didn't you?" Freddie said.

Lauren nodded, wiping her eyes. "A lot."

"I wish there was something I could do," Freddie said softly. "I really do, sweetie. I hate seeing you like this."

"Thanks," Lauren sighed. "But unless you can find Scott's dad a new job here, there's not much you _can_ do."

Freddie kissed the top of her head, and the two were silent for a moment.

"Is he in the software business?" Freddie finally asked. "I can probably pulls some stings at work to get him a job."

Lauren let out a small laugh. "He's an FBI agent, daddy."

"Oh," Freddie said lamely. "Well…I can maybe send an email?"  
Lauren shook her head.

"I'm sorry," Freddie said again. "I really _do_ wish there was something I could do. If there was, I would do it in a heartbeat."

"I know," Lauren said.

"You want me to give you some privacy?" Freddie asked. "I know you probably have a lot on your mind right now."

"No," Lauren said at once. "Just…stay here with me. I-I think I kind of need my dad right now."

Freddie felt his chest swell up with fatherly pride.

"You have no idea how good it is to hear you say that," he said softly.


	21. Chapter 21

Sam looked around Freddie's office, the room where she would now be spending the rest of her pregnancy.

She was certainly comfortable. Freddie had dragged in the couches from the living room and had pushed them together to form a large bed. It was almost comfier than her bed back upstairs.

Her and Freddie had just gotten back from the doctors' a little while ago, and while Sam was very glad there were no further complications with the pregnancy, she had hoped that the doctor would have given her clearance to be a little bit more active.

She sighed as she looked back down at her laptop screen. Her and Freddie had begun looking at possible baby names while they were waiting in the doctor's office earlier, and she decided she might as well continue. She remembered it had taken months to pick out Heather's name. Freddie kept leaning towards more traditional names while she, who had always hated being one on at least six 'Samanthas' in any given setting, wanted something a bit more unique. They must've gone through three hundred names before they agreed on Heather.

_This __**would **__be easier if we knew if you were a boy or a girl, _Sam thought, smiling down at her stomach as she felt her child gently kicking. _But I guess we'll just have to pick a name for each._

She looked back at the list of boy names on the screen in front of her just as she heard the front door open.

"Sam!" Freddie called. "Sam, we're home!"  
A few seconds later he appeared in the doorway.

"Hey," Sam greeted him as he leaned down to give her a quick kiss. "I was just looking at baby names some more."

"Make any progress?"

"Not really," Sam sighed.

"Well, I have to go get dinner started," Freddie said. "And I need to go give Heather a bath…While we were driving back from picking up Lauren from cheer practice she got the top off her Sippy cup and spilled chocolate milk all over herself. I'm gonna have to go out and scrub out her car seat too…"

"Ah, one of the few perks of bed rest," Sam sighed, leaning back against the pillows. "No house work."

"That's right, enjoy it," Freddie smirked, rolling his eyes. He gave her one last kiss. "Anyway, Lauren's in the living room if you need anything. After I finish up with everything, I'll come back in here and we can see if the two of us have any luck with the names."  
"Alright," Sam smiled.

Once Freddie left, she looked back on her screen. "Alex, Anderson, Anthony…" she read off. "Arttie, Austin…Ugh, these names are all so bland."

"Sam?"  
Sam looked up and saw Lauren standing at the door.

"Hey," Sam said. "What's up?"  
"Did you call for me?"

"No," Sam replied.

"Oh…I must've been hearing things then," Lauren shrugged.

"Well hey, now that you're here, why don't you stay?" Sam said, patting the space on the couch-bed next to her. "You busy?"  
Lauren shook her head and stepped across the room to join Sam.

"What are you doing?" Lauren asked.

"Trying to find some names for this kid," Sam said. "It's harder than you'd think, though. Especially with the names your dad is coming up with. You know if it's a girl, he wants to name her _Gwenth_?"  
Lauren cringed.

"I know," Sam chuckled. "I think he forgets what century we're living in sometimes."

"I like Brayden," Lauren commented, looking at the screen. "You know, if it's a boy."  
"Hmm…that has a good ring to it," Sam said thoughtfully. "I'll have to hang on to that one."  
She closed her laptop. "Anyway, enough with names. I've been looking at that site all day."

"I remember you guys did the same thing when you were naming Heather," Lauren grinned.

"Yeah well, we have to make sure we get the perfect name," Sam said. "My mom picked my name in about three minutes and I got stuck with _Samantha_."  
"What's wrong with Samantha?"  
"How many Samanthas do you know?" Sam pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah…" Lauren nodded.

The two were silent for a moment.

"Hey, your dad told me about you and Scott," Sam said softly.

"I figured," Lauren sighed.

"You doing okay?" Sam asked, putting her arm around her stepdaughter.

Lauren shrugged. "I guess."

"It sucks, I know," Sam said sympathetically.

"Yup," Lauren said heavily. "Today was Scott's last day at school."

"I'm sorry," Sam said. "I know how much you liked him."  
"Thanks," Lauren said.

"Let me know if there's anything I can do for you, kid," Sam said. "Your dad and I are always here if you need us."

"I know," Lauren said, giving her a small smile.

…..

The morning of March 4th, Conner's birthday, Sam awoke much earlier than usual.

The second her eyes opened, she felt a giant weight pressing down on her and she let out a soft cry.

She knew there was no way to change things, but she still wished more than anything that she wouldn't be spending today a thousand miles away from Conner's grave.

She felt Freddie shift beside her and she quickly shut her eyes, feigning sleep.

She knew Freddie would try and comfort her as much as possible today, and she appreciated that. She really did. But right now…she really just wanted to be left alone.

She could tell that Freddie was sitting up in the couch-bed and she could feel his stare against his neck.

She didn't know if he knew she was awake or not, but either way he got up and quietly headed out of the room.

Sam waited a few more moments before opening her eyes again. She slowly pulled herself up into a seated position. She simply sat there for a moment, completely still.

After a moment, though, she suddenly let out a low moan. The photo album where she kept all her old photos of Conner was still upstairs in her room! She had forgotten to bring it down when she moved into the office last week. She had wanted to just flip through the pictures for a few hours, reliving every captured moment.

As she was cursing her own stupidity, she caught sight of something sitting at the foot of her bed. She reached for it and realized it was none other than her photo album!

_Freddie must've brought down in the middle of the night_, Sam realized, carefully opening the book to the first page, where there was a picture of her holding a newborn Conner as she lay in her hospital bed.

Taking a moment to appreciate her husband, Sam smiled down at the picture. She remembered that day perfectly, even though it had been fifteen years ago…

She had gone into labor late in the night. Thankfully Carly had been visiting her and had jumped into action at once, driving her to the hospital in record time.

His birth had been a long one; it had lasted almost ten hours. It was the most painful thing she had ever experienced. She remembered how Carly had fought with the nurses to stay in the room with her, since she didn't have anybody else.

And all through the birthing process, Sam remembered how terrified she had been. She didn't know if she could be a mom…She wasn't even sure she could _love_ her child, considering his horrific conception.

When she gave that final push and the delivery room had suddenly been filled with loud wails, and Sam had craned her neck to try and glimpse of her newborn child, only to have her view blocked by the nurses and doctors surrounding him. A few moments after, though, when he had been all cleaned up wrapped in a pale blue blanket, one of the nurses handed him to her, and Sam finally got a look at him. And at that moment, as she held the child in her arms for the first time, she felt an overwhelming sensation take over her body: pure, unconditional love, and it was then that she knew everything was going to be okay.

Sam lost track of time as she sat there, going through the photo album. She didn't notice the sunlight flood the room as the sun rose or the sounds of the family getting ready for their day in the kitchen. She was lost in her own thoughts.

Around ten, the door opened and Freddie walked in carrying a tray of eggs.

"Hi," he said gently. "I brought you breakfast."  
Sam wasn't hungry, but she knew she needed to eat for the baby, so she carefully set the photo album down and picked up her fork.

"You doing okay?" Freddie asked, sitting down next to her and putting a comforting arm around her.

Sam shrugged. "I mean today's never going to exactly be a happy day."

Freddie nodded, kissing her temple. "I know you wish you were there with him today."

"He'd have understood," Sam said sadly.

Just then Freddie's phone began to buzz in his pocket. He stood up and pulled it out, looking down at his screen.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

Freddie didn't reply. He simply smiled and stepped across the room, picking up his laptop from the desk.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked curiously as Freddie typed in a few commands.

But Freddie still did not answer as her brought the computer back over to the bed and placing it on her lap.

Sam frowned as she stared at the screen. Suddenly, the webcam flashed to life and a video chat window popped up.

"Wait, what is this?" Sam asked, confused. "What's going-"

"Sam?"  
Carly's face came into focus on the screen.

"Carly?" Sam said, surprised. "What-What are you doing?"

"I'm here at the commentary," Carly said, giving her best friend a warm smile. "Just like you asked me."

"I-Thank you," Sam said. "But why-"

"But I know you still wish it was you here with Conner," Carly continued. "And-And I know there's no way for you to physically be here, but-but Freddie and I thought maybe-maybe you could at least virtually be here."  
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked, looking up at her husband.

"Here," Carly said, giving her one last smile before moving her computer down onto the ground in front of Conner's grave.

Sam felt a wave of emotions rush over her as she stared at the screen. It was almost as if she was sitting in the graveyard for real.

"I know it's not the same as you being there in person," Freddie said softly. "But-But I thought this might be a good idea."

"I-Yes," Sam whispered.

"My battery is fully charged," she heard Carly's voice say from the distance. "Take as much time as you need. I'm going to go back and sit in my car."

"Thank you, Carly," Sam said, awed at what was happening right now.

Freddie squeezed her hand. "Do you want me to give you some privacy right now?"

Sam thought for a moment. "No," she said slowly, gripping her husband's hand. "Stay with me."


	22. Chapter 22

"Alright, so tell me about this one," Sam said a couple of weeks later as Heather sat with her on her bed, showing her the new doll Freddie had gotten for her. "What's her name?"

"I dunno," Heather shrugged.

"You didn't name her?" Sam chuckled.

"Uh-uh. It hard."

"Well, guess I don't have too much room to talk," Sam said, looking at the blank pad of paper next to her that her and Freddie were supposed to be listing possibly baby names on. "You know we still don't have a name picked out for your baby brother or sister?"  
"Why not?" Heather asked.

"Like you said," Sam grinned, picking up Heather's doll. "It's hard."

"She play soccer," Heather informed her mother, holding up the small soccer ball that came with the doll. "See?"

"I do," Sam nodded just as Freddie came into the room.

"Alright, Heather, you ready to go?" Freddie asked.

"So what happened to not buying her anymore toys until her birthday?" Sam smirked as Freddie scooped Heather up in his arms.

"She wore me down," Freddie defended. "Besides, she wasn't supposed to show you."  
"Sorry, daddy," Heather smiled sweetly, kissing his cheek.

"She gets that from you," Freddie told Sam as he set the child down. "Alright, Heather. Go get your shoes on so we can get going."

"Okay!" Heather said excitedly, hurrying out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked.

"I decided to take your advice and take the girls out to do something fun," Freddie said. "So Lauren, Heather and I are gonna go bowling."

"Bowling?" Sam repeated. "_That's _fun?"  
"Well Lauren agreed to it when I suggested it," Freddie shrugged. "And Heather seemed to like the idea."

"As long as you guys have a good time," Sam said.

"We'd have a better time if you were coming with us," Freddie said, giving her a quick kiss.

"I wish I could," Sam said, giving him a small smile. "But I'm stuck in this bed for another seven weeks. Don't worry about me, though. I found this new series online that I'm gonna watch while you're gone. It's a reality show about a bunch of ex-fighters all living on a yacht for six months."

"Fascinating," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. He picked up Sam's brush from the table by her bedside.

"Hey, who said you could use that?" Sam asked playfully.

"Well I can't find my own comb in the bathroom upstairs," Freddie said. "And I have to look presentable when I try to bowl a perfect game."

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," Sam scoffed. "I've been bowling with you before. The only way you have a shot at that is if you put up those bumper things. And even then you'll probably still manage to get a few gutter balls."  
"You're lucky you're pregnant," Freddie said.

"Or else what?" Sam grinned.

Freddie shook his head and leaned down to give her another kiss. "Remember, call me if you need anything. I'll pick up something for dinner on the way home. Love you."  
"Love you too," Sam replied.

…..

"Remember," Freddie said, returning to the small table where him, Lauren and Heather were sitting after he had just got yet another gutter ball. "If Sam asks, I was on fire here, okay?"  
"You bad, daddy," Heather observed.

"Thank you, sweetie," Freddie sighed.

"My turn?"

"Yes it is," Freddie nodded, handing Heather her small, child-sized bowling ball. "Go ahead."

He watched as Heather ran over to the bowling lane.

"She's not bad," he commented as he watched his youngest child carefully put the ball down on the floor and roll it forward.

"Yeah, she's pretty good for a kid," Lauren said simply.

Freddie frowned. For the past few days, Lauren had been acting completely out of the usual. He wondered if it had anything to do with her break-up with Scott, even though that had been over three weeks ago.

"Hey, you feeling okay?" Freddie asked.

"Yeah," Lauren answered softly, looking off into the distance. "I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" Freddie asked, concerned. "You've been acting a little strange lately."  
Lauren shrugged. "Just a lot going on at school. I have a bunch of tests coming up, cheer practice, all my teachers are starting to pressure us about college applications…But I'm fine. I promise."

Freddie studied his daughter. He knew something was definitely bothering her, but he wasn't entirely sure it was that.

"Well…just don't let it weigh you down," he told her. "Sure, you might be under some stress, but I know you, honey, you'll get through it. You're the top of your class; if anybody can handle all of that, it's you."

Lauren gave him a small, half-hearted smile. "Thanks."

"And remember, I know I keep you telling you this, but you can always come to me for help if you need it," Freddie said. "I'm your dad; it's in my job description."  
Lauren didn't reply.

"I hit six pins!" Heather announced, rushing back over to the two of them. "I winning?"

Freddie looked back at Lauren, who was absentmindedly playing with the straw of her soda, staring off into the distance.

_She's a teen_, Freddie told himself. _Everybody said this part would be all mood swings and wanting to be left alone_. _I guess they were right. _

So not wanting to risk upsetting Lauren any further, Freddie turned back to Heather.

"I think you are," he smiled at her, holding out his hand for her to high five. "Way to go, sweetie."


	23. Chapter 23

"Careful," Freddie said as he helped Sam slowly lower herself back down onto the couch in the office.

"I'm fine, Fredwad," Sam said, rolling her eyes as she leaned back against her pillows and got comfortable.

The couple had just gotten back from another doctors appointment, where they were finally given a set date in which they would induce labor on Sam.

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm not gonna break from walking the thirty yards from the car to here, you know," Sam assured him.

"I know," Freddie said, sitting down next to her. He put an arm around her. "So six more weeks then."  
"Yup," Sam grinned. "On May 26th this baby's finally going to be here."

"And the poor kid may still not have a name," Freddie chuckled. "I can't believe we haven't found anything that we agree on."  
"Well you're picky," Sam shrugged.

"_I'm _picky?" Freddie frowned.

"How about this?" Sam said. "Tonight, before we go to bed, we have to have at least one name agreed on for a boy and one for a girl."

"We might not be getting much sleep then," Freddie chuckled. "But I think that's a smart idea."  
"Good," Sam said. "Hey, it's almost three. Shouldn't you be leaving to go get Lauren from school?"  
"Nah, she told me this morning she was getting a ride home from Danielle's mom," Freddie said. "And so since Heather's upstairs napping, I'm going to get a little work done before I start dinner."

"Alright," Sam yawned. "I think I'm going to take a nap, so keep it down."  
"I'll try not to type too loudly," Freddie smirked, giving her a quick kiss.

He grabbed his laptop and headed out to the living room. He sat down on the couch and opened up his computer to see if he could make any progress on a new virus detection software his company was designing. He hadn't even made it through one line of code, though, when someone plopped down next to him.

"Hi, daddy!" Heather said brightly.

"Heather, what are you doing?" Freddie said. "_You _are supposed to be taking a nap."

"Naps for babies," Heather said simply. "I big sister."

"That's right," Freddie smiled. "You _are _going to be a big sister soon. But big sisters still have to take naps."  
"Lauren no take naps."

"That's because Lauren's older," Freddie explained. "When you're her age you won't have to take naps anymore either. Deal? Now let's get you back to bed."

"But I not sleepy!" Heather pouted.

Freddie sighed, knowing that with the child this full of energy, getting her back down for a nap would be near impossible.

_At least she should fall asleep easy at bedtime tonight_, Freddie reasoned. "Okay, Heather. You can skip your nap for today. But tomorrow it's back to the schedule. Now go play _quietly _so daddy can try and do his work."

Heather hopped down from the couch and settled down at her dollhouse by the television. He really did need Sam back in action…he was never the best at disciplining the kids. Somehow they always seemed to know just how to work him.

Suddenly the front door opened and Lauren rushed into the house, clutching a white envelope.

"Hey," Freddie said to his daughter. "How was school today? You feeling any better or-"

But Lauren didn't even respond as she ran upstairs, taking the steps two at a time.

Freddie frowned as he set his laptop down on the coffee table. He wasn't used to be completely cold-shouldered like that. Even when she was having a rough day, Lauren at least would offer him a quick hello.

Something had to be going on…these past few weeks Lauren had been acting different, and he knew now that it was not just a side effect of her being a teenager.

Something else had to be going on.

Maybe she really was still hung up over Scott, or maybe it was something more. But whatever it was, Freddie was going to get to the bottom of it.

He got to his feet and headed upstairs. He was just about to knock on Lauren's door when it suddenly flew open.

Lauren was standing there, tears streaming down her face as she held a crumpled sheet of paper in her fist.

"Lauren," Freddie said. "What's-"

"Was anybody going to ever tell me?" Lauren said coldly. "Or was I just going to live my whole life not knowing?"  
"Not knowing what?" Freddie asked, confused. "Lauren, what is that? What are you-"

"When were you ever going to tell me that you're not my dad?" Lauren yelled.

Freddie took a step back, his blood turning to ice. "Wh-What?"

"You're not my dad!" Lauren said, tears continuing to fall down her face. "You're not even _related _to me!"  
It was the moment he had been dreading for years. He should've seen this coming. He should've known if he didn't tell Lauren the news, she'd find out one way or another. And now she had done exactly that.

"How-How did you find out?" Freddie asked shakily, his world spinning.

Lauren shoved the piece of paper at him. "I tested our DNA against each other. I took hairs from your comb and brought it down to the place where Danielle's dad worked. I knew they do these sort of tests all the time."

Freddie was speechless as he stared at the results of the DNA test. They were identical to the one he had performed between the two of them more than ten years ago, when he himself was wrestling with this news. But still, they hit him just as hard as when he had seen them the first time.

"I started to suspect something when I was doing my family tree project," Lauren said shakily. "I kept looking through your family's side but-but I couldn't find any traits that I shared with them. I-I only could find traits that-that me and mom shared. But-But I thought that maybe that was just a coincidence. But-But the more I dug into it, the more-the more I realized that it didn't make sense…That-That something was wrong. But I didn't-I didn't want to even think…I thought if I got a DNA test it would _prove _I was wrong. But it _didn't_! It proved I was _right_!"

Freddie closed his eyes. "Lauren," he said slowly. "Lauren, I-I'm sorry. You have every right to be angry and upset and confused-"

"I know I do!"

"But-But if you'll just let me explain-"

"Explain what?" Lauren snapped. "Explain how you lied to me my whole life? Admit it! You were never going to tell me, were you?"

"I wanted to!" Freddie said desperately. "I did, Lauren, I really did! But I just-I just didn't know how! I'm so sorry you had to find out this way."  
He reached over and put a hand on her shoulder, only to have it immediately thrown off.

As Lauren glared up at him, Freddie could feel his heart shatter into a million pieces.

"You're not my dad," Lauren said coldly. "I don't even know _who _you are!"

And with that she ran down the stairs away from him.

It took Freddie a moment to find the strength to move.

"Lauren!" he finally was able to call out as he raced down the steps after her. "Lauren, wait, I-"

But then he heard the front door slam close and a second later, he could hear his own car engine revving to life. She must've taken his keys…

Freddie made it to the door just as Lauren was pulling out of the driveway. She gave him one last glare before she sped down the street and off to who knows where.

Freddie slumped against the doorframe, feeling absolutely defeated.


	24. Chapter 24

Freddie angrily swung his foot at the wall, trying to vent out some of his feelings. But it didn't make him feel any less horrible, and now his entire foot was throbbing in pain.

Though the physical pain he felt was noting compared to what was going on inside of him.

Heather, not used to seeing her father like this, let out a small cry and she got to her feet and hurried into the office with Sam.

How could this have happened? How could he have been so _stupid _as to think that Lauren wouldn't one day learn the truth? That he wasn't her real…

Freddie swung his foot again, this time aiming his kick at the potted plant by the door, which caused the pot to shatter and dirt to spill onto the carpet.

He should've told Lauren long ago…as much as it would've pained him to admit it, Lauren wouldn't have reacted the way she did just a few minutes ago.

She wouldn't have hated him like she now did.

That thought cut into Freddie the deepest.

_No_, Freddie told himself firmly. _No, I can't let that happen. I've got to find her. I can explain everything to her…Maybe-Maybe there's still a chance I can fix this. _

Freddie rushed into the office, clinging onto that small ray of hope.

"Hey, what's going on out there?" Sam frowned when he entered the room. She had Heather on her lap, trying to soothe her. "I heard something break and-"

"Lauren found out," Freddie said, his voice empty and broken. "She-She knows Sam."

Sam didn't have to ask what he was talking about. Her eyes widened and she let out a small gasp.

"Oh my God…How-How did she?"

"She had our hair samples tested," Freddie replied quickly. "I-I'll explain later. But the point is she knows I've lied to her and she _hates_ me now."

"Freddie, I'm sure she doesn't-"

"Yes she does!" Freddie said loudly. "You didn't hear her! You didn't see her! And you know what? She has every right to hate me! I lied to her for the past ten years! And now she's gone and-"

"What do you mean she's gone?" Sam demanded. "She didn't leave, did she?"

"That's exactly what I mean!" Freddie nodded. "She-She took my car and she drove off!"

"Well come on then!" Sam said, making to get up out of bed. "We've got to go look for her! We'll drop Heather off at the neighbors and-"

"What? No, Sam, you stay here," Freddie said. "I'll go out and look for her."

"I'm not going to just sit here in bed while Lauren's out there missing!" Sam snapped.

"Yes, you are," Freddie told her firmly. "You heard what the doctor told you today! The closer you get to the due date, the more important it is for you to get your rest-"

"But Lauren's-"

"Call her cell," Freddie said. "Maybe-Maybe she'll pick up if it's you. And-And call all her friends. And the police department; see what they can do."

Sam opened her mouth to argue, but Freddie had already grabbed her car keys from the desk and was rushing out of the room.

He raced into Sam's car, but as he sat there behind the steering wheel, he realized that he didn't have the slightest idea where she would go.

"Think," Freddie said to himself desperately. "Where would she go? The mall? School? Friend's house?"

_She's just found out that the man she has spent her whole life calling dad isn't even related to her_, Freddie thought to himself slowly. _She realizes that she's lived most of her life with people who she shares no real connection to. Maybe…Maybe she's run off to the one person she knows she at least shares something with…_

Freddie pulled out his cellphone as he began to pull out of the drive way and quickly dialed his ex-wife's number.

Sarah didn't pick up, but Freddie pressed the redial button as he continued to press his phone to his ear.

"Come on Sarah," Freddie mumbled as he sped down the road. "Pick up. Pick _up_!"

"Hello?"

"Sarah!" Freddie said loudly. "Sarah, has Lauren called you?"

"Um, no, not recently," Sarah replied on the other line. "In fact, I was just about to call you about that. What are you doing to her over there? Poisoning her against me?"

"Sarah, Lauren-Lauren ran off," Freddie begrudgingly admitted.

"She ran off?" Sarah repeated. "Why would she-"

"She found out!" Freddie yelled. "She found out that I'm not her dad, okay!"

"You mean all this time you haven't told her that yourself?"

"Spare me, will you?" Freddie snapped. "But I think…I think Lauren's trying to go out there to you."  
"Why would she do that?"

"Because!" Freddie said angrily. "Despite the fact that you've been absent most of her life, you _are _her parent, which is more than she can say for me anymore! Look, will you…will you please just let me know if she calls you? Please? And if you talk to her, tell her I'm worried about her and-and I want to talk to her."

"I-Fine," Sarah agreed.

"Thank you," Freddie said. "Alright, she-she has my car now, but I don't think she'd try to drive to California by herself. She wouldn't know how to get there…She doesn't have enough money on her emergency debit card for a plane ticket but she _might _try and buy herself a train ticket. I'm on my way to the station now but for all I know, she might've already boarded one by now. I need you to wait down at your station to be there if I'm right about this and she winds up there."

"I have an open house in-"

"Sarah! This is your _daughter_!" Freddie exclaimed, furious.

"Alright!" Sarah conceded. "I-I'm on my way there now."

"I text you if Sam or I get anymore information," Freddie said bitterly, hanging up the phone.

…..

"Ugh!" Sam groaned as she tossed her phone down on her bed.

She had just finished calling everyone she could think of. She called all of Danielle's friends, every girl on the cheerleading team, the woman she sometimes babysat for…she had even dug up _Scott's _number, but nobody seemed to know where Lauren was.

Sam had also called the police department, but they were far from helpful. Evidently, unless they were certain Lauren had been abducted or she had been missing for twenty-four hours, there wasn't much they could do.

Sam had never felt so hopeless in her life…She was stuck here in bed while Lauren was lost. Who knew if she was okay? And as angry as Freddie had said she was, Sam was sure Lauren wasn't thinking straight, and she knew from personal experience, you didn't always make the best decision in that state of mind…

"Where could she be?" Sam moaned. "Where would she have gone?"

"Mommy?" Heather said, gently pulling on Sam's sleeve. "Daddy mad?"

"Um…no, just-just don't worry about that now," Sam said quickly. "Just sit here and play quietly."

_Alright, you were fifteen once_, Sam told herself. _If you were in this situation, where would you go? How would you decide where you'd run away to…Maybe she looked up some place on her laptop! Alright, I just need to look on her computer and then maybe I can figure out where she went!_

The problem was, Lauren kept her laptop upstairs in her bedroom.

She supposed she could send Heather upstairs to retrieve the computer, but history had shown that Heather wasn't yet old enough to be trusted with such important items (she had nearly shattered Sam's own laptop a few weeks previously trying to bring it to her).

_If I wait for Freddie do get home, it might be too late, _Sam reasoned. _I've just got to get it myself. It will be fine…_

So she slowly sat up and carefully got to her feet. "Alright, Heather, you stay downstairs," Sam ordered. "Mommy will be right back."

The trip up the stairs was harder than Sam thought. It had been weeks since she had left the first floor of the home, and by the time she reached the top, nearly ten minutes later, she was panting and out of breath. But she quickly shook off her own discomfort as she started for Lauren's room.

The teen's laptop was sitting on her desk, already powered on. Sam quickly looked on at the screen, pulling up the Internet server, recent files…anything that would maybe give her some clue as to where she would've gone. She was nothing compared to her husband when it came to these sorts of things, but she knew he way around a computer well enough to see the last pages Lauren had visited.

"Nothing…" Sam said, defeated. "There's nothing here!"

Sam felt the tiny spark of hope that had ignited inside her vanish as she ran her hands nervously through her hands, desperately trying to think of another way to figure out where Lauren had gone to.

She shook her head. She wasn't going to get anywhere. But she still couldn't sit by and do nothing.

"I'm calling the police again," Sam mumbled to herself. "And I'm going to _make _them do something this time."

It took Sam even longer to go down the stairs than it did for her to go up them. But again, she didn't even pause when she reached the bottom. She simply hurried back into the office and grabbed her phone and dialed the police station.

"You've reached the police station," the operator on the voice said after the first ring. "Please state my emergency."

"Yeah, I called here a few minutes ago about my missing daughter," Sam said, pacing back and forth, something she always did when she was nervous. "And you guys totally ignored me! So this time you're going to-"

"Ma'am, it's like we told you," the operator said tiredly. "Unless a person has been missing for twenty-four hours-"

"Hey, this is my daughter you're talking about!" Sam snapped, her temper flaring up. "And she's only fifteen; she's just a kid! She could've gotten herself lost or hurt!"  
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but the rules are-"

"Those rules are stupid!" Sam exclaimed. She could feel her blood pressure soaring. "You're telling me you're just going to sit there on your lazy butts while a teenage girl is missing?"  
"She's not technically classified as missing until-"

"She _is _missing!" Sam yelled. "Her dad and I don't know where she is, therefore, she's missing! Look, you have to be able to do _something_! Let me send you a picture of her or something so you can give it your on duty guys or-"

"We don't have the man power to-"

"To what?" Sam spat. "Do your jobs?"

She was clenching her fists so tightly that her knuckles were turning white.

Just then, though, she heard the front door open. Figuring it was Freddie, Sam decided she would deal with the hopelessly unhelpful police department later. So without even bothering to say another word, Sam hung up her phone and started out into the living room.

"Well did you have any luck?" she asked. "Did you find-Lauren!"

Lauren was standing by the front door, her eyes red and her face tearstained.

"Lauren, where have you _been_?" Sam demanded, hurrying over to the child and throwing her arms around her. "Do you have any idea how _worried_ we were when you took off like that?"  
"Why-Why are you out of bed?" Lauren asked, concerned. "The doctor said-"

"The doctor didn't just have to spend the past hour thinking his daughter was missing!" Sam snapped. "I can't believe you, Lauren! How could you do that to us?"

Lauren looked down at her feet. "Where-Where is he?"

"Your _dad_ is out looking for you!" Sam replied. "He's scared half to death out there!"

"He's not my-"

"Lauren!" Sam said sharply, catching the teen by surprise. In all the years Sam had been in her life, Sam had never yelled at her like that. "_How _could you say that?"

"I have a test that proves he's not!" Lauren retorted.

"So what? Who _cares_ about some dumb test?" Sam said angrily. "So you don't share DNA with him, big deal! But you ask me this, Lauren, has he not been there for you every _second _of your life? Has he not done everything in his power to make sure you have the best life possible? Has he _not_ given you unconditional love from the moment you were born?"  
Lauren looked away. "I-I think you should go back to bed," she said shakily. "You-You don't look so good Sam. You're really not supposed to be up right now-"

"Has he not done that and so much more?" Sam frowned, ignoring Lauren's comment.

"I-Yes! Okay, yes, he has!" Lauren conceded. "Now can you _please _lie down so you don't hurt yourself or-"

"You know what I would've given for a dad like you have when I was growing up?" Sam snapped. "Because _my _dad, the man who I shared fifty percent of _my _DNA with, didn't care one _bit _about me! He _left _me and never bothered to check up on me ever again! You _see_? DNA doesn't make someone your parent! You should know that! Of the two parents you know, who has done more for you? The one who's biologically related to you? Or the one who you just found out isn't?"  
Lauren bit the corner of her lip. "He has…"

"That's right," Sam said, finally lowering her voice. "Look…I-I get that it was a huge shock for you to find out this way and yeah, he-he should've told you sooner, but he-he's still your dad, Lauren. And he loves you."

"I love him too," Lauren whispered.

"Good," Sam said, satisfied. "Now, you two probably have a lot to talk about…so when he gets back-"

"But can you _please_ go lie back down, Sam?" Lauren asked. "You're really making me nervous. I-I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Fine, fine, yes," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "I'll go back to bed now. I should call your dad too, let him know you're alright. He's probably a wreck right now."

"Do you need help getting back there?" Lauren asked softly. Sam could tell she felt somewhat guilty.

"No," Sam replied. "No, I think I can manage. I just need to-"

She was cut off, though, as, out of nowhere, a sharp pain ripped through her body and she doubled over, clutching the nearby end table for support.

"Sam!" Lauren cried, rushing over to her stepmother's aid. "Sam, are-are you alright?"

"I-No!" Sam winced, suddenly feeling something wet and cold slipping down her leg. "My-My water just broke!"

"Oh my God!" Lauren exclaimed. "I-I'll drive you to the hospital again!"

"No, I-I can't move!" Sam gasped as another pain struck her body. "Call-Call an ambulance. Tell them-Tell them this baby's on its way now!"


	25. Chapter 25

Lauren watched in horror as the paramedics surrounded Sam, helping her into a long, white stretcher. She had gotten back from running Heather next door, and when she returned, the ambulance was just pulling into the driveway.

She wasn't sure what was happening to Sam. She heard one of the paramedics say that he was going to give her a shot of something to maybe try and slow her contractions down and halt the labor, but it might not work if she was far enough along…All Lauren knew was that Sam _had _to be okay. If she wasn't…it would be all her fault, wouldn't it? Sam had gone into labor early because of all the stress she had put herself through rushing around the house and worrying, and _she _had been the one who caused all of that in the first place. If she hadn't run off, Sam would've never left the bed, and her and the baby would be safe right now.

"Page Dr. Wheeler and tell him to be ready to perform an emergency C-section as soon as we arrive," one of the paramedics told the other. He turned to Sam "Ma'am, we're going to get you to the hospital, we just need you to hold on."

"What do you think I'm _trying _to do?" Sam snapped as another contraction rippled through her body.

"We've got to get going," the paramedic said. "Now."

The two paramedics behind Sam nodded as they hurriedly pushed her stretcher out to the ambulance.

"You can ride along in the back with your mom," the paramedic told Lauren. "But get in there _now_. We don't have time to spare."

"I-Okay," Lauren said quickly, rushing out of the house.

The paramedics transported Sam into the ambulance in record time, and Lauren had barely enough time to get in herself before the sirens wailed to life and they sped out of the driveway.

Lauren slowly walked over to Sam, who was now being connected to several IVs and sat down next to her. She hesitantly reached for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I'm so sorry, Sam," Lauren whispered.

….

Freddie frowned as he looked up at the schedule at the train station. According to it, no train was heading to California for another six hours. That meant Lauren hadn't left yet, but that also meant he was no closer to finding her than he was earlier.

_Okay, maybe she found another way to get there_, Freddie thought to himself. _Maybe the bus? I can go over to the station and see if-_

His thought was interrupted, though, as his phone began to ring inside his pocket. He retrieved it and saw an unfamiliar number flashing across the screen. His first instinct was to ignore it and get back to his search for Lauren, but then he realized that maybe the number could be someone telling him news about her, and he quickly answered.

"Hello?"  
"Fredward Benson?" a voice on the other end said.

"Yes?" Freddie said slowly. "Who is this?"

"I'm calling from East Regional Hospital and-"

Freddie's eyes widened in fear. The hospital? Had something happened to Lauren? Was she hurt?

"Is she okay?" Freddie demanded at once. "Is she-"

"She's gone into labor six weeks prematurely," the voice told him. "She was just rushed here a moment ago and-"

"Labor?" Freddie repeated, confused. "What do you mean-Oh my God! Sam!"

"We're getting ready to do an emergency C-section now," the voice said. "Please get here as soon as you can."

"I-Okay," Freddie nodded.

What was he supposed to do now? He needed to find Lauren but Sam needed him too.

Suddenly, his phone began to ring again, and this time, he recognized the number. It was his elderly neighbor, Mrs. Fielding. As he rushed back to his car parked in front of the train station, he quickly answered her call.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Freddie, I'm just calling to tell you that that your wife-"

"I know, I know," Freddie said. "I-I just got the call from the hospital. Do you know if Sam is okay?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, dear," Mrs. Fields said gently. "But I just wanted to let you know that I have Heather over here and I'll watch her as long as you need."

"I-Okay," Freddie nodded. "Thank you. That's-That's very helpful. Um, you have our spare key if she needs anything and-"

"Oh, I think she'll be fine," Mrs. Fields assured him. "Lauren brought over some snacks and some toys and-"

"Lauren did?" Freddie repeated, stopping dead in his tracks. "_Lauren _brought Heather to you?"  
"Yes dear, right before the ambulance arrived," Mrs. Fields replied. "I think she rode over with Sam as well…"

"You're positive?" Freddie said desperately.

"Well she _did _get into the ambulance," Mrs. Fields said.

"Thank you," Freddie said, reaching his car. "Thank you so much. You have no idea how much you've just helped me."

He hung up his phone and hopped into his car and sped off to the hospital.

…..

"I want my husband," Sam mumbled groggily as she was carried onto a hospital bed. "Is he coming?"

But no one appeared to hear her as a team of doctors and nurses, all wearing layers of scrubs and facemasks, filed into the room. The last nurse was pushing in a small, plastic crib.

"We need to get this baby out, now," the head doctor said as he snapped on a pair of gloves. "She's too far along to halt the labor."

"I want my husband!" Sam said again, louder.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," one of the nurses said as another nurse began spreading an icy gel on her stomach. "Medical personal only in here. Your husband has been contacted, though, and he'll be waiting for you the second we finish."  
Sam felt her heart rate increase even more. She had to do this alone? She looked around as several more IV's and tubes were being stuck into her. And she suddenly realized she could no longer feel anything underneath her chest.

"I can't move," Sam mumbled weakly.

The doctor gave her an encouraging smile. "That's the anesthesia. Don't worry, Mrs. Benson. We're going to take care of you, just trust us."

It didn't look like she had a choice.

Sam watched as another monitor was connected to her and an ultrasound flashed onto the screen.

"Alright, I'm making the first incision," the doctor announced. "Mrs. Benson, you should close your eyes now…"  
But Sam was determined not to look away. She needed to see for herself that this baby was okay.

"It will be alright," one of the nurses told her gently as the doctor slowly cut into her, drawing a small line of blood.

"But will the baby be?" Sam asked shakily.

"Babies delivered six weeks early have a very good chance of surviving outside the womb," the nurse told her. "They're small, but they're fighters."

….

For the second time now, Lauren sat alone in the hospital waiting room, anxious to hear any news about Sam.

The first time she was in this situation, she had felt proud that she had managed to get Sam here just in time. Now, however, she was weighed down by guilt.

She heard the receptionist at the front desk calling Freddie, telling him to get here as soon as he could. Part of her wanted to see him, to tell him how sorry she was that she had caused this whole mess. But another part of her was unsure if she was ready to face him…

She still felt shocked by the news she had discovered earlier. How could he not be her father? _How_?

She thought about what Sam had said to her…about how Freddie had been more of a dad to her than many kids were lucky enough to have.

She let out a small sigh. That was definitely true. And she knew deep down, no matter how angry and confused she was right now, he'd always be the one she called dad.

…..

As much gore as Sam had seen in her life, she was still unprepared for this. Normally during a C-section, a screen was placed up by the woman's chest, preventing her from seeing the scene down below. But there had been no time in her case.

But she still didn't look away. She needed to see for herself that her child was okay.

"I've got the baby!" the doctor announced, and Sam tried not to concentrate on the face that he was up to his forearms in her own insides. "Nurse, standby to cut the cord."

And then in one swift movement, the doctor pulled from inside of her a small, pink, goo-covered child.

Sam craned her neck, trying to get a better view, but the baby was now surrounded by doctors.

And then it hit her…something had to be wrong. When she had given birth to Conner and Heather, they began screaming and crying the second they came into the world. Yet this child was silent.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked desperately. "What's wrong with my baby? Why isn't it-"

But then the doctor gently began patting the child's back and a moment later, a high pitch scream erupted.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Benson," the doctor said, smiling up at her. "It's a girl."

Sam's face lit up as she stared over at her new daughter, who was now being placed on a small table and cleaned up by a team of nurses. "Is she okay? Is she?"

"Lungs appear normal!" one of the nurses called over her shoulder. "Vitals are a little less than ideal, but within the normal range."

"That's good!" the nurse by Sam smiled. "That's _excellent _news. Now we'll run a few more tests on her just to be sure, but it looks like-"

"Nurse!" the doctor said suddenly. "Nurse, come here!"

The nurse hurried over to the doctor, where he was still standing by Sam's abdomen.

"What is it?" the nurse asked, looking at where the doctor was staring. "What is-Oh my goodness!"

"Her file didn't mention this," the doctor mumbled, grabbing a fresh pair of gloves. "We'll have to do this quickly."  
"What? What's going on?" Sam frowned. Hadn't they just told her that her daughter was going to be okay? What could be wrong now?"  
"Mrs. Benson?" the doctor said. "Did anybody tell you that were carrying twins?"


	26. Chapter 26

Freddie raced into the hospital waiting room, trying to catch his breath. He looked around, trying to see if there was anybody that could help him. He was just about to start to the front desk when he spotted a familiar head of red hair sitting far off in the corner.

"Lauren…" Freddie said breathlessly.

Lauren looked up and stared at her father.

"Lauren," Freddie said, stepping towards her. He was almost ready for her to back away from him again, but he was pleased to see she at least stayed where she was. "Lauren I-I'm so sorry, honey."

"I'm sorry too," Lauren whispered, looking back down. "This is all my fault…Sam went into labor because of me…because I ran away."

"No, Lauren, it-it's not-" Freddie started, but just then, a nurse poked her head out into the waiting room.

"Mr. Benson?"  
"Yes, that's-that's me," Freddie nodded. "Is everything okay with my wife? The baby? Is Sam-"

"You can come back and see your wife now," the nurse nodded.

"Um," Freddie started, looking back over at Lauren. "Can she-"

"I'm sorry, but I'm unable to permit more than one person in the room at a time right now," the nurse said apologetically.

"It's okay," Lauren said softly. "I-I'll be waiting out here…Go see Sam."

Freddie still looked unsure.

She gave him a small smile. "Go on…dad."

Hearing that simple word suddenly brought back some of the feeling in his legs, and Freddie returned her smile before turning and running towards the nurse.

"Is Sam okay?" he asked again as he began to follow her down the hospital hallway. "And the baby? I-I know she was six weeks early, but in the pregnancy books I've ready, they all say the baby's fully developed by this point and can survive-"

"Your wife is fine," the nurse assured him as she stopped in front of room 107. "She's sore from the emergency C-section we had to perform, but with a little bit of rest, she'll be good as new."  
"And the baby?" Freddie asked desperately.

The nurse gave him a kind smile. "I'll leave that for you to see."  
Freddie slowly opened the hospital door, where his eyes instantly landed on Sam. She looked exhausted, but absolutely radiant. She was holding a small bundle of blankets in her arms.

"Sam!" Freddie exclaimed, rushing over to her bedside. "Oh my God, I-I'm so sorry I wasn't here for you! I got here as soon as I could! Are you okay? What about-"

"Shh," Sam said, looking up at him. "You're going to wake her."

"Her?" Freddie said, his eyes widening. "You-You mean-"

"Want to hold your new, perfectly healthy daughter?" Sam beamed.

"Yes!" Freddie nodded at once, holding out his hands as Sam carefully transferred the sleeping infant. "Yes! You-She's-She's really okay?"  
"She's small," Sam told him. "About four and-a-half pounds, but she's just fine."

"Wow…" Freddie breathed, looking down at his sleeping child. "She's-She's perfect. Sam, this is amazing…I-I don't even know what to-Wow."

"I know," Sam said. "But…there _is _one more thing."  
"What?" Freddie asked.

"Alright, Mrs. Benson, he's all cleaned up now," a nurse said, walking over to Sam with another blanket. "Would you like to hold your new son?"

"Son?" Freddie repeated. "Did-Did she just say-"

Sam held out her arms and the nurse gently laid down the sleeping newborn boy in her arms.

"That's right," Sam nodded, a tear falling from her eyes as she smiled up at him. "We had twins. Two healthy babies…It's unbelievable."

Freddie craned his neck to get a good look at his new son. "A daughter _and _a son? That's so-I can't-I don't-How-"

"I know," Sam nodded, kissing the top of the child's head. "I know."

….

Several hours later, the entire Benson family was sitting in Sam's hospital room. Once Sam had gotten a little more rest, the nurse had finally allowed Lauren to join, and Freddie had ran to Mrs. Fielding's home to pick up Heather.

"Pretty neat, huh?" Sam said to Heather as the toddler stared down into the plastic cribs at her bedside. "You get a baby brother _and _baby sister."

"They really little," Heather observed.

"I know," Sam chuckled. "But they're going to grow up to be big just like you soon."

"What there names?" Heather asked.

"Er, we haven't quite gotten there, yet," Sam admitted. "We're still deciding. But daddy and I are definitely going to have their names picked out by the time they come home in two days, right Freddie?"

"That's right," Freddie nodded, smiling down at his newborn children. He still couldn't believe they were both healthy and alright.

_I have twins_, Freddie thought to himself. _Sam's going to be alright…It's really been one heck of a day. _

And then he glanced across the room at Lauren, who was watching Sam and Heather admiring the twins, a guilty and confused look still etched on her face.

Freddie glanced at Sam who seemed to at once get what he was trying to communicate to her. She gave him a small nod.

Freddie took a deep breath and walked over to Lauren.

"Okay Lauren," he said heavily. "I think the two of us need to have a little talk."  
Lauren didn't reply.

"Come on," Freddie said gently.

"Alright," Lauren agreed, slowly getting to her feet.

The two left Sam's room and headed down the hallway, not saying a word to each other. Freddie stopped outside what looked to be an empty conference room. Hoping nobody would need to use it for a while, he pushed open the door.

"In here," he told Lauren.

The teen stepped into the room and sat down at the mahogany table. Freddie sat down next to he.

For a moment, neither said anything. Then Freddie reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. He handed it to Lauren.

Frowning, Lauren unfolded the slip.

"Mitchel Stellings?" Lauren read. "What's this?"

"That," Freddie said. "Is the name of your biological father."  
Lauren's eyes widened.

"That's all I know about him, though," Freddie said. "Just his name."  
Lauren looked up at him. "Why are you giving me this?"

"Just in case you decide you-you ever want to meet him," Freddie said. "Look…I-I can understand you wanting to know where you came from. And-And if you want to find this guy, I-I can try and help you find him. You can maybe call your mom…she used to work with him; she might know where he wound up."  
Lauren glanced back down at the name.

"You-You also probably have a lot of questions to ask _me_," Freddie said.

"Yeah," Lauren nodded. "I-I do."  
"Well let's hear them."  
"How long have you known?" Lauren asked.

"Not for-Not for the whole time," Freddie said. "I found out when you were around five. I-I did the same thing you did…I had two samples of our hair matched against each other."

"So mom had an affair?"

"Yes," Freddie said. "Yes, um, she did."

"And…you found out right around the time you guys got divorced," Lauren said slowly. "Was-Was it because-"

"That-That played a big part in it, yes," Freddie nodded. "But it wasn't the only thing. Your mom and I just didn't love each other…it would've ended between us eventually no matter what."

Lauren nodded.

"Anything else?" Freddie asked.

"Why-Why did you never tell me?" Lauren asked. "If you knew for ten years…why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Freddie sighed. "Because I was stupid enough to think if I just ignored that fact…it would just go away. Lauren, you don't realize how much it killed me when I found out. From the _second _your mom told me she was pregnant with you, I-I loved you more than anything. I-I was so excited and overwhelmed when I found out I was going to be a father and that I was going to have a _daughter_. And then, to find out that I had been living a lie for so many years…well, you saw today. It-It hurts, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Lauren said softly. "It does."

"I always knew that I'd have to tell you sooner or later," Freddie sighed. "But-But it was just so much easier to keep pushing it off. It was wrong of me, I know, but…I couldn't help myself. I was afraid of what you'd think."

Lauren didn't reply.

"But listen to me," Freddie said. "No matter what genetics says, I love you. I've loved you as my daughter since the second you came into this world, and I'll keep loving you as my daughter until the end of time. You'll always be just as much my child as Heather and the twins. I just need you to know that, Lauren. Please."

"I-I do know that," Lauren told him. "And-And you-you've done so much for me…you've always been there. That-That's more than mom or-or this Mitchel Stellings guy can say. You-You'll always be my dad, daddy, whether you're biologically related to me or not."

Freddie's face broke out into the biggest grin Lauren had ever seen. "That feels so good to hear you say, sweetie."

He held out his arms for her and he quickly pulled her into a warm embrace.

"I'm sorry I ran off," Lauren whispered, and Freddie could feel her tears sliding onto his shoulder. "I'm sorry I said those things to you…I didn't mean them. I love you."

"I know," Freddie told her gently. "I know. You were in shock…I get it."

"And I'm sorry I caused all of _this_," Lauren continued. "It's all my fault we're here in this hospital. I'm the one who caused Sam to go into labor so early."  
"Oh honey, you-you can't worry about that now," Freddie said. "Sam's fine and the babies are fine and-"

"But it's still my fault!" Lauren cried.

"Sweetie, I don't blame you at all for this," Freddie said. "And neither does Sam. In fact, before you came into her hospital room, she was telling me if you hadn't called for the ambulance, she probably would've had to deliver in the middle of our living room, and then there _could've _been trouble. She said she wouldn't have been get to her phone on her own, she was in so much pain."

"She wouldn't have needed me to call the ambulance if I didn't-"

"Lauren, it's okay," Freddie said firmly. "You had just gotten some really intense news…Any kid would've done what you did. But unlike most kids, _you _came back home. I-I was so sure you were going to go out to your mom."

"I thought about it," Lauren admitted. "But-But in the end…I realized I couldn't leave you and Sam and Heather. Not for someone who, well, um, you know…"

Freddie gave her one last hug. "I'm glad you came back. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Lauren smiled up at him. "I don't know what I'd do without you either."

The two pulled apart.

"So," Freddie asked, staring at the paper in Lauren's hand. "Are-Are you going to try to find him then? Your-Your real father?"  
Lauren shook her head. "Why would I have to do that? I already know where he is. Right here."


	27. Chapter 27

**AN-Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait for an update. So this is the last official chapter of this story. There will be an epilogue uploaded soon, though, so make sure to look out for that!**

…**..**

Sam smiled as she stared at the two plastic cribs by her bedside. Each of the twins were peacefully sleeping, their small chests rising and falling with each breath they took.

She still couldn't believe how lucky she had gotten.

Between the difficult pregnancy, the premature birth and the fact that she had been carrying _twins_, things could've ended much differently. Yet the children were both healthy. They were small, both weighing under five pounds each, but still perfect nonetheless.

Sam gently reached into their cribs, softly stroking the heads.

When Heather had been born, Sam had secretly wondered if whether or not she'd be able to be a mother again. It had been years since she had done it, and she was unsure of whether or not she was ready to start again. She feared that she would begin to try and make Conner live on through Heather.

But when Sam held Heather in her arms for the first time, she instantly knew that she would never be Conner. And she was fine with that. She was _glad. _At that moment she had realized that while there would never be a way for her to bring back her son, she the amazing chance to love someone as she loved Conner, even though she would always be her own person.

That's why last night, after Lauren and Heather had gone home with Mrs. Fields and Sam and Freddie were putting all their efforts into naming their new twins, when Freddie suggested they name their son after Conner, Sam disagreed.

"_He's not Conner," Sam had softly said, smiling down at the boy in her arms. "And I don't want him to be. I want him to be him. Let him have his own name." _

"You guys are so perfect," Sam whispered. "Shay…Bradley, I already love you both so much. And I always will, no matter what."

"Hey," Freddie said softly, coming into the room. "I just talked to the front desk. You're all set to check out of here the day after tomorrow."

"Good," Sam nodded. "I want to go home."

"We'll have to move these two in with us until I get the nursery finished," Freddie told her, leaning down to give her a quick kiss before turning and smiling down at his sleeping children. "I still can't believe how perfect they are. I-when I heard you went into labor early, all I could think about was what if-"

"I know," Sam nodded, reaching for his hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "Me too. But they're alright. They're both alright."

Freddie gave her a small smile. "They really are."

"How's Lauren doing." Sam asked.

"She-She's probably still a little, you know, shocked from everything that happened yesterday," Freddie replied. "But I think we're going to be okay."

He looked different down at the floor. "Sarah called last night, after I got home with the girls. I had left her a message hours ago telling her that I found Lauren and you know what she said to me?"

"What?"

"She wanted to let me know that because I 'panicked', she wound up missing some big closing," Freddie said. "And that next time, I shouldn't be so 'paranoid'."

"You're kidding," Sam frowned. "Her daughter was missing and all she cared about was work?"

"That's Sarah for you," Freddie said darkly.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Really goes to show you."

"What?"

"It's like I've been telling you for years," Sam said. "Blood doesn't matter when it comes to being a parent."

…

"Why they sleep so much?" Heather pouted later that day when Freddie brought her and Lauren back to the hospital to visit Sam again.

"All babies do," Sam explained, shifting a sleeping Shay in her arms.

"I didn't," Heather said.

"Yeah you did," Sam smirked. "You drove Lauren crazy. She was just like you; she wanted to play with the new baby but couldn't because you were always napping."

"It's true," Lauren grinned from her seat next to Sam's bed, where she was holding Bradley.

"I just got off the phone with Carly," Freddie announced, walking back into the hospital room. "She says she's expecting a video chat once you're back home, Sam, and she's hoping to fly out here to see the twins in person within the next few weeks."

"She better be getting her butt out here," Sam said. "We _did _name one of them after her and Spencer."

"Daddy," Lauren said, suddenly cringing as she handed Bradley over to her father. "He needs. To be changed"

"Okay, okay, I've got him," Freddie said, taking his son.

"Oh, can you change Shay when you're done with Bradley, baby?" Sam asked sweetly.

"That's right," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "Enjoy this while you can. But just know once you're back on you're feet, you'll be changing diapers too."

"Yeah, yeah," Sam grinned. "Whatever you say."

As Freddie went to grab a fresh diaper from a stack left by one of the nurses, he glanced back over at Lauren, who now had her phone out, smiling as she texted someone.

"Who are you so happy to be talking to?" Freddie asked.

"Just someone," Lauren replied, not looking up from her phone.

"Someone?" Freddie repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh-huh."

"Right. And this someone…this person doesn't happen to be-"

"Aw jeez," Sam sighed. "Here we go."

"So it _is _a boy?" Freddie frowned.

"Um…yes?" Lauren nodded. "But he's super sweet, daddy. He's on the school news show and he works at an animal shelter. His name is Rodney and-"

"Are you _kidding _me?" Freddie groaned. "Again with this? I thought with Scott out of the picture we'd be done with boys for a few years!"

"Dude..," Sam said, amused.

"But Rodney's such a nice guy, dad," Lauren said. "_And _he just asked me out. He wants to get Chinese food this weekend."

"_What?" _Freddie frowned.

"Please?" Lauren begged. "Can I go daddy? I'll do the dishes for a whole month and help out with the twins and everything. Please?"

Freddie sighed. "Is it okay with you, Sam?"

"Sure, as long as she's home by eleven, I don't see any harm in her going," Sam nodded.

"Thanks, Sam," Lauren smiled. She looked back over at her father.

"Well," Freddie said heavily. "I guess since you've already been out on dates, it would be inconsistent parenting to change the rules now."

"Yes!" Lauren cheered. "Thank you, da-"

"But I want to meet the guy," Freddie said firmly. "I'm not gonna wait to intimidate this one."

Sam snorted from the bed.

"Okay," Lauren agreed. "No problem. Oh, I should call Rodney and tell him the news!"

She hurried out of the hospital room, wearing the smile that Freddie had always given in to for her entire life.

"You okay?" Sam asked sympathetically.

Freddie sighed. "Sam, twenty-four hours ago, I didn't know if she'd ever want to speak to me again. I couldn't handle that. But this…this I can."

…..

A few days later, Sam and Freddie were back in their bed in their bedroom, both fast asleep. Suddenly, a series of loud cries filled the room, waking the couple up.

"Didn't we just feed them?" Sam mumbled groggily as she slowly sat up, looking over at the crib across the room in which both twins were currently housed.

"They probably need changed now," Freddie yawned.

"Alright," Sam sighed. "I'm going."

"No, go back to sleep, baby," Freddie told her. "I'll take this shift."

"But you went last time," Sam pointed out. "You sure?"

"Yeah, you stayed with them by yourself all day while I wad at the office," Freddie nodded. "You deserve some rest."

"Alright, well no take-backs," Sam yawned, laying back down and closing her eyes.

Freddie quickly got himself up out of bed and walked across the room, scooping the twins both up in his arms.

"Hey guys," Freddie whispered, as Shay and Bradley both slowed their cries. He checked both their diapers. "Huh. You don't need changed at all. And you just ate an hour ago…did you guys just get a little lonely in your crib? That's okay, you can hang out with daddy for a little bit. I don't mind. I never will."

Quietly, so not to wake Sam, Freddie headed out of the bedroom and down the stairs into the living room, where he carefully sat down on the couch. He stared down at his children, who were both looking back up at him.

"So," Freddie said. "Here we are. Just the three of us…man, I know its been close to a week but I still can't believe you guys are here. You guys don't know how worried I was about you. And if either of you do _anything _to make me that worried again, you'll be grounded until college."

He smiled down at Shay and Bradley. "Listen, I know neither of you understand a word I'm saying right now, but I just want you to always know how much I love you guys. I'd do anything for you, just remember that."

He paused, gently stoking each of the twins' heads. "You guys are the best things in my life. You two and your sisters and your mom…I-I really don't know what I'd do without any of you."

He leaned down, placing a tiny kiss on the infants' foreheads.

"Shay," he whispered to his daughter. "You can ask your big sisters, sometimes I'll probably annoy you half to death. I'll probably embarrass you in front of your friends and I _will _do my best to scare any boy that you bring into this house. And I know that once you get older, you're probably not gonna want me hanging around all the time. And-And that will be hard, but I also know that no matter what, I'll always be there when you need me. No matter if you're ten, twenty, forty, or one hundred."

He looked over at Bradley. "It's gonna be rough for us, buddy," he grinned. "You and I are outnumbered around here. Trust me, living in a house of girls can be crazy, but at the end of the day, you'll see, you wouldn't have it any other way…Look, you'll see soon enough I-I'm sort of, well, to quote your mom, nubbish. I'm not at all athletic, but you bet I'll spend the summers playing catch with you. If by some horrible twist of fate you wind up preferring _Comet Treck _to _Galaxy Wars_, I promise, I'll put aside my pride and watch every episode with you. And even though I was far from a ladies guy in school, I'll give you the best advice I can when you get older and are nervously getting ready for your first date. Bradley, I don't have experience raising a son, so if I make some mistakes, just know, I'm trying my hardest."

He chuckled. "It's a madhouse around here half the time. But it's your home now, and mommy and I will do whatever we can to make you happy here."

"Babies up?" came an excited voice from behind him, and Freddie turned his head to see Heather running down the stairs.

"Heather, what are you doing up?" Freddie asked as his daughter plopped down next to him. "You should be in bed."

"Hi babies!" Heather said happily, ignoring her father.

Freddie sighed. "Alright. You can stay up for a little but then it's back to bed."

"Good luck with that," came Sam's voice, and Freddie looked over to the stairs again to see Sam coming down to join them. "She's not gonna want to go back to bed now. It's almost six in the morning; she'd be waking up in an hour anyway."

"Oh, I didn't realize what time it was," Freddie said as Heather hopped into Sam's lap once she sat down next to him. "What are you doing up, though. I thought you were tired."

"Eh, I guess it was too quiet for me to sleep up there," Sam smiled, taking Bradley from Freddie.

"I hold baby?" Heather asked, looking up pleadingly at Freddie.

Freddie glanced at Sam, who gave him a quick nod.

"Alright, Heather, you want to hold your sister?"

"Yeah!" Heather said excitedly.

"You have to be very careful," Sam told her. "Make sure you keep an arm under her head. She's too little to hold it up on her own. And make sure you're quiet so you don't scare her."

"Okay," Heather nodded as Freddie gently placed Shay in Heather's arms, taking care to stay very close to her.

"Hi Shay," Heather whispered. "You are little."

"What's going on down here?" came another voice, and a moment later, Lauren appeared at the foot of the stairs.

"Wow, look who's up a whole two hours early," Sam grinned as Lauren sat down with the family on the couch.

"Did we wake you, Laure?" Freddie asked.

"Sort of, but I'll let it slide," the teen yawned. "This time."

She leaned over a tickled Bradley's toes as he laid in Sam's arms, causing a soft coo to emit from the infant.

"I try?" Heather asked.

"Yeah, you can do that with Shay," Sam nodded. "She loves it too."

Mirroring her what her older sister had just done, Heather gently stroked the bottom of Shay's feet, making a tiny smile appear.

"She happy!" Heather announced proudly.

"That's right," Sam smiled.

"I used to do that to you all the time," Lauren told Heather. "And you went crazy for it. All babies do."

"It's true," Sam nodded. She looked over at her husband. "Hey, now that we're all up, how about you make us some breakfast. I'm in the mood for some bacon."

"Oh, and eggs," Lauren added.

"Waffles!" Heather said loudly.

"Alright, alright," Freddie chuckled, getting to his feet. "Or…how about we all go _out _for breakfast?"

"Really?" Lauren asked.

"Sure, we have time before you need to be at school," Freddie replied. "And I could use a break from cooking."

"I'm in," Sam said. "I haven't been to a restaurant in ages."

"Great," Freddie said. "Lauren, go help Sam get the kids in their cars eats. I'll meet you outside in a minute."

"Alright," Lauren agreed, taking Shay from Heather as her and Sam got to their feet. "Come on, Heather."

"Hurry up, okay?" Sam said, giving Freddie a quick kiss. "Mama's starving."

"Don't worry," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "I know better than to keep you waiting for food."

"Smart man," Sam smirked.

Freddie watched as his family headed out the front door to the car, letting out a soft sigh as they left.

Ever since Lauren was born, there had been some instances when he just had to step back and wonder _what _he could've possibly done to deserve such wonderful moments in his life. He had four children who he loved more than words could describe and a wife who made him feel a way he never thought possible. His family was his whole life. Growing up, he had heard people use that expression countless times, but at times like this, he truly understood just how powerful and accurate those words were.

He looked over at the coffee table, where a small framed photograph of the six Bensons sat. Freddie had insisted on taking that picture the moment Sam and the twins arrived home from the hospital.

_You guys are the best things to happen to me,_ he thought to himself. _All of you_.

"Daddy," Lauren said, poking her head back through the door. "Sam says if she doesn't have bacon in her stomach within the next ten minutes, she's going to put all of your underwear in the freezer again."

"I'm ready," Freddie said quickly, jumping to his feet. He turned and gave the family photo one last look before hurrying out to join the others, making a mental note to hide his underwear when he got back home.


	28. Chapter 28

**AN- Alright, so here is the final piece of this story; the epilogue. I just wanted to thank everybody who has followed this story and I hope you have all enjoyed it!**

…**..**

_Three years later_

"Mommy!" five-year old Heather exclaimed, rushing into the kitchen where Sam was currently making lunch. "Tell the twins to stop following me! They won't leave me alone and it's _annoying_!"

Sure enough, a moment later three-year olds Shay and Bradley ran into the kitchen after their big sister.

"Heather, let's play house!" Shay said excitedly. "You can be the mom and me and Bradley can be the kids."

"I want to be the dog!" Bradley said.

"I don't want to play house anymore!" Heather moaned. She turned back to her mother. "Mommy, make them stop!"

"Alright you two, it's time for lunch," Sam said to the twins. "Go wash your hands and give Heather a break."

"But we want to play," Bradley pouted.

"I made hot dogs," Sam smiled knowingly.

Both twins gasped happily and hurried out of the kitchen.

"Finally," Heather sighed, relieved, and Sam couldn't help but chuckle.

"You know, they're just hanging around you so much because they love you," Sam told her. "You're their big sister. They look up to you."

"That doesn't mean they have to bug me all the time," Heather muttered darkly.

"You know," Sam said, kissing the top of Heather's blonde curls. "Lauren said the same thing about you when you were the twins' age."

"She did not!" Heather replied indignantly.

"Sure she did," Sam laughed. "When you used to follow her around driving _her _crazy."

Heather didn't reply.

"You don't really mind them, do you?" Sam asked.

"I guess not," Heather admitted.

"Daddy's taking them to the park later," Sam said. "While they're out, you'll be able to have some peace and quiet if you want."

"The park?" Heather repeated. "I want to go to the park with daddy and the twins! Last time we were there I showed them how to swing really high and I have to see if they remember!"

"Oh, so you _want _to do something with the twins?" Sam grinned.

"They're not that bad," Heather said just as they heard the front door open.

"Where's my laptop?" eighteen-year old Lauren demanded as she ran into the kitchen, grabbing her computer that had been sitting on the counter. "I have to check my email!"

"Jeez, slow down," Sam said as she quickly got out of the teen's way. "Why are you so excited to check your email?"

"She thinks one of her college decisions might be in," Freddie explained, joining the family in the kitchen. He gave Sam a quick kiss. "As we were driving home from the grocery store she got a text from one of her friends saying she had heard back from Stanford."

"Ah," Sam nodded as Lauren quickly typed away on her keyboard.

"I really hope I got in," Lauren said anxiously. "I thought I'd have heard by now…oh, I probably got rejected, I just know it!"

"Honey, don't stress yourself out like this," Freddie told her gently.

"Yeah, I know Stanford is your top choice, but remember, you _have _already been accepted to a ton of schools," Sam reminded her. "Really good ones too that all have great biology programs for you to go into and have awesome campuses and-"

"-are much closer to home," Freddie added.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Dude…"

"Sorry, just putting that out there," Freddie said, sitting down at the table next to Heather. "So how have _you_ been, Heather?"

"Can I go to the park with you and Shay and Bradley?" Heather asked. "I want to swing."

"Course you can, sweetie," Freddie nodded, scooping her up and placing her on his lap. "Hey, I know! Why doesn't everyone come and we'll make it a big family outing!"

"Can't baby," Sam said. "I'm taking Lauren out to go look at more prom dresses. You know, since she couldn't find anything in the thirty stores we've been in so far."

"I need the perfect dress," Lauren said, not taking her eyes off her screen. "Prom is one my one-year anniversary with Trent. It's a double occasion."

"You remember my requirements for the dress?" Freddie asked Sam.

"Freddie, they don't _make_ dresses out of burlap sacks," Sam said, shaking her head.

"Well they should," Freddie pointed out as the twins ran back into the kitchen.

"You guys washed your hands?" Sam asked.

Both three-year olds nodded.

"I bet the bathroom looks like a war zone now," Freddie commented.

"That's okay, you'll get to it later," Sam smirked.

"Should've known," Freddie chuckled. "Good thing I picked up some new cleaning sprays at the store so-"

"Oh my God!" Lauren suddenly cried out. "It's here! My message from Stanford is right here in my inbox!"

"Well what are you waiting for?" Sam said excitedly. "What's it say?"

Taking a deep breath, Lauren slowly opened up the message on her computer.

For a moment, the entire kitchen was silent. Even Shay and Bradley seemed to understand what a critical moment this was.

"No way…" Lauren finally whispered. "I-I don't believe it."

"What?" Freddie asked. "What-what did it say?"

"I'm in," Lauren breathed, looking absolutely stunned. "I got in…I'm going to Stanford!"

"Lauren!" Sam exclaimed, jumping up and wrapping her arms around the girl. "That's _amazing_! Congratulations, I'm so proud of you! I mean _obviously _they'd accept you, with your grades and everything, but this still huge!"

"Good job, Lauren!" Heather beamed, jumping off Freddie's lap and hugging her sister.

"Yay Lauren!" Shay said, clapping her tiny hands together.

"Lauren's smart!" Bradley echoed.

"Thanks," Lauren said, still looking shocked, yet ecstatic. "I just can't believe it…this is my dream school!"

She looked over at her father, who was still sitting down, looking flabbergasted. Freddie quickly recovered, though, and got to his feet.

"Lauren, I-I'm so proud of you," he said, pulling his daughter into a tight embrace. "Stanford…that's incredible. You-you're going to do great there."

Lauren smiled up at him. "Thanks, daddy."

…

"-and I think that acceptance from Stanford made her more decisive too," Sam said later that evening as she climbed into bed next to Freddie, who was staring intently at his laptop. "Because she _finally _picked a prom dress. It's actually really nice and she looks good in it. I have some pictures on my phone I'll show you in the morning. Oh, and while Lauren was in the changing room, I ordered her an ice cream cake online that I was going to pick up for her tomorrow as a little treat for all of this. I'm gonna be at work when it's supposed to get picked up, so can you just do that, Freddie? Freddie? Frednub?"

"Huh?" Freddie frowned, looking up from his computer. "What is it?"

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"Just some research," Freddie sighed. "You know it's thirteen hundred miles from here to Stanford?"

Sam gave him a small smile as she put an arm around him. "Lucky we live in the age of technology."

Freddie didn't reply.

"She doesn't leave for another five months," Sam reminded him gently.

"Four months, three weeks and five days," Freddie corrected.

Sam squeezed his shoulder. "It's her dream school."

"I know," Freddie sighed. "And I'm so happy for her. She deserves this. But…this is it. She's all grown up. She'll be off on her own soon and she won't need me."

"She'll always need you," Sam assured him. "I mean she'll be asking for money from us for another eight years at least."

Freddie simply shrugged.

"That was supposed to make you laugh," Sam said.

Freddie sighed. "Am I a terrible father for wishing, just a tiny bit, that she hadn't gotten in and would be going someplace closer?"

"Nah," Sam said. "You're just an over-emotional nub, that's all."

Freddie couldn't help but laugh at that. "You know we'll be visiting her a lot, right?"

"Duh," Sam nodded. "We'll go up at least once a month her first semester. She'll probably _love _that…"

"Think it will ever get easier?" Freddie grinned. "Having her living so far away?"

"We'll probably get used to it eventually," Sam reasoned. "Especially once we see her kicking butt up there. But we're always gonna miss her. Course we're gonna have to do this all again in thirteen years with Heather. And then two years after that with the twins."

"Ugh!" Freddie moaned, falling back against his pillows. "Why are our kids so smart? Why do they _have _to go to college and leave us?"

"Oh come on," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "You're the one who has been promoting college to all of them since before they could talk. You were discussing SATs with the twins when they were one! You have only yourself to blame for all of this."

"It wasn't supposed to come back to bite me," Freddie pointed out.

Sam gave him a kiss. "Now you know how your mom felt when you left her for college."

"You did _not _just compare me to my mom," Freddie said indignantly.

Sam smirked. "Well if the shoe fits…" She suddenly got a more serious expression. "Hey, does Sarah still live out in California?"

"Pretty sure," Freddie nodded. "But I don't think she's near Stanford. Still, wherever she is she's still a hell of a lot closer than Texas."

"Is she excited that Lauren will be moving closer?" Sam asked softly.

"Who knows," Freddie said darkly. "I sent her a text earlier telling her the news."

"And?"

"I still haven't heard a reply," Freddie replied, shaking his head.

"Seriously?" Sam frowned.

"You really that surprised?"

"Unfortunately no," Sam sighed. "Still…how can anybody just do that? I mean she basically abandoned Lauren at this point. Do you even know when the last time she talked to her was?"

"No idea," Freddie told her, squeezing Sam's hand. "But at least Lauren has always had a mother right here with her. Baby…you know she _does _think of you as her mom, right? I mean…you're the one who has always been there for her. You're the one who held her hand when she got her ears pierced and had all those fun _chats _with her and the one who endured a combined nine hours of prom dress shopping with her."

"Ten," Sam corrected.

"Well either way," Freddie said. "You've been there for her in so many ways…she loves you for that."

"Yeah, well…I love her too," Sam said softly. "She's a great daughter."

"She really is," Freddie nodded. "All of our kids are really great. We must be doing something right, right Sam?"

But Sam didn't respond. Freddie looked over and followed her gaze to the picture of Conner that was sitting on her nightstand.

Freddie felt a pang of sadness. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Sam whispered. "Yeah, I-I'm fine."

"He would've been heading off to college right around now too, wouldn't he?" Freddie asked gently.

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "Yeah, he was only a few months younger than Lauren. They'd have been in the same grade."

She rested her head on Freddie's shoulders. "Wonder if he'd have wanted to go away for school or if he'd he'd have stayed close to home. He was pretty smart, you know. He liked to read…well, he never learned how to read, but he liked it when I would read to him. And sometimes he would pick up a book and just flip through it while he made up his own story. You know…he always said he wanted to be a doctor someday. I don't know if that's because he was always surrounded by them or what, but he seemed to like the idea."

Freddie kissed her temple. "He would've made a great one."

"I know," Sam sighed sadly.

"You sure you're okay?" Freddie asked.

"Yeah," Sam replied. "It's just, you know, big things like this sometimes get me thinking."

"That's normal," Freddie reasoned.

"I know," Sam said. She squeezed his hand. "You know, sometimes I also think about what would've happened if…if you hadn't come along. After Conner, I don't know if I would've been able to gone out without you and the kids…"

Freddie smiled at her. "I think you've done pretty well."

Sam craned her neck to kiss him. "No," she corrected. "_We've _done _great_."


End file.
